


Pacman 300

by Icandigelvis



Category: Holy Trinity (YouTube RPF), Phan, Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Youtubers, dan and phil
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Humanoid, Multi, Robot/Human Relationships, Robots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-02-20
Packaged: 2018-03-05 06:03:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 55,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3108788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icandigelvis/pseuds/Icandigelvis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When there's a package delivered to Daniel Howell on the morning of 6th of May, year 2345, Dan's world is slowly turned upside down. Phil or PHI001LES001ep29 as his name is, knows how to make Dan smile, how to tie and slink his cords and other radioactivity, as Dan proclaims Phil is filled with, into Dan's mind and makes the evil thoughts go away. As a model of the new generation of Hubots, or pacmans as the resistance calls them, Phil is one of 100, personalized, no one like the other, model of the name 300.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. PHI001LES001ep29

Dan took the steps one at one when he exited the underground, almost tripping on the last one, just avoiding his face meeting the black puddle on the ground. He tightened his grip on his bag and looked up, just in time to see the traffic lights start blinking yellow. He begun jogging through the slow walking crowd of business suits and irritated faces, just making it across the street as the red light turned on. He stopped in his tracks to brush off his trousers, and taking a breath – running really wasn’t Dan’s thing – and then he felt the wetness before his ears could register the sound of a car driving past him, spraying his back in water from another puddle. 

Dan slowly turned around and glared after the car, a kid behind him scoffed and Dan couldn’t help but to groan. 

God fucking damn it. 

Slamming the door open to his house he made his way up, not even bothering to smile at the old lady who he just passed, she lived in the apartment at the bottom and seemed always cheery, so Dan couldn’t help but to love her. They had chatted about a bit of everything now and then when passing each other, and Dan liked the calmness about her. They used to have more time to talk when the elevator worked, when it stopped and no one bothered to fix it, they didn’t have the time to aimlessly talk. 

He threw his bag of his shoulder and yanked on the zipper, it wouldn’t move and Dan cursed before trying one more time, staring in disbelief at the zipper that just came off. 

“Fucking son of a fuck-“ Dan mumbled as he fiddled with the small little metal thing the zipper was attached to and after at least a minute, he got his backpack open. After dropping the keys on the floor, twice, he made his way into his apartment, literally throwing his bag against the wall, not caring about whatever was in there, and making his way towards the bathroom. 

He undressed everything, threw his expensive suit on the floor, but carefully removing his phone first and setting it on the cupboard, of course. He then proceeded to turn the water on in his shower, glancing down at the bathtub he was now standing in. Dan showered usually every day, but he hadn’t taken a bath in at least a few months. It came with the place and was one of the reasons PJ wanted Dan to get this place of all of them. 

“It has a frickin bath, James!” PJ said excitedly, pointing at the basically new bath the agent said was one of the new additions to the apartments. 

“Don’t call me James,” Dan mumbled as he glanced around in the, at the time, bathroom draped in pink towels and pink candles with scents like cotton-candy-sweet-pinku-fruity-girly-vagina-scented candles. Dan shuddered. 

“Oh, but I’m sure the ladies would love it if you’d invite them to take an old fashioned, romantic bath with them,” PJ chuckled, elbowing his friend lightly as he exited the room. 

 

And at the moment Dan loved PJ for at least pointing out the bath could become something that Dan would desire after hard days at work, or just hard days in general. He stepped out of the bath, pressing the button for the water to exit from the faucet right above the bath. He checked the temperature and when he was pleased he let it start to fill up, in the meantime checking the bathroom drawer if he had any sort of bubbles or whatever they were called. He found some plastic soap thing Louise had gotten him a while ago, it was pink but what the hell, it just simply said “Summer Bath Bomb” on the front. Dan ripped it open, almost dropping the sandy thing on the floor in the actions. He turned the package to read how he was supposed to use it, but groaned as he realized the language wasn’t English. 

Oh well. 

He simply threw the entire ball in, watching it disappear under the water only to bob back up. Dan carefully stepped into the warm water, not even caring about moaning loudly when he was finally lying down. 

***-**-*-*-*-**-***

Dan was pretty well off, his job working at the radio as a technician paid him well, and he liked his job, his colleagues. However Dan was a bit greedy, at least he thought of himself to be, PJ and his other friends didn’t agree, but Dan just brushed it off as they were trying to be nice. 

Dan was alone, he was suffering and could sometimes fall into dark clouds and his mind could get foggy, those days he just wanted to sleep. He wanted to have that someone to love him, to put Dan in front of others, someone Dan could love in turn, a special someone. He had figured a long time ago he was asexual, as he never really fancied anyone, and didn’t feel the craving off having someone to hug, kiss, have sex with etc., but he wanted a close friend. Someone who he could share secret stories with, listen to music with, travel with, and not feel like he was a burned with at all times. 

PJ had been a special friend to Dan for a long time, but then Marie came along. Dan loved Marie, she was amazing and someone definitely worth PJ but she kind of took Dan’s friend away from him. And then he was always put second after Marie. 

And it hurt. 

***-**-*-*-*-**-***

Dan woke up to the doorbell ringing, he immediately slapped his hands above his ears, shifting his legs under the covers. It was so warm and cozy under his covers, he didn’t want to answer the post man. He could pay the fee and get it delivered to him again tomorrow. 

But then Dan mentally slapped himself and threw his covers aside, staring at the alarm clock that screamed  
time 10:26  
day 6  
month May  
year 2345 

in his face, yawning as he got up, putting on socks, pajama pants and a t-shirt on the way towards the door. 

He pressed the answer button, half yawning, saying “yes.”

“I’ve got a package for Dan Howell. We’ll be up at your door in a sec,” the man said and Dan raised an eyebrow. He usually had to fetch his own packages downstairs, not have them delivered up to his door at the fifth floor. He tapped his wristwatch just to notice it wasn’t there, stumbled his way back to his bedroom to put it on and tap the screen, waiting for the familiar beep. At first he didn’t hear the beep and tapped the screen again, distantly hearing it coming from somewhere. He entered the hallway again, tracking his phone again and then he heard the sound coming from inside his bathroom. He opened the door and found the blue light coming from his phone flashing loudly, the device wanting to be found. 

He brought it up, checked if anyone had emailed him, and then pocketed the mobile. 

Dan walked into his kitchen, still wondering what the package would be, he couldn’t remember ordering something that needed careful transporting or royal-express shipping. He mindlessly turned on the coffee maker, grabbing one of his cups from the cupboard above him, the one with Moomin on, and placing it on the desk. He opened the dishwasher, starting to put the clean cutlery back at its place as the coffee maker started making a quiet noise. He owned a very old model, it worked, but it was a bit loud, at least compared to today’s coffee makers which didn’t make any sounds at all. But Dan liked the almost tune-like sounds it made. 

His wrist gently vibrated and he looked down to see a 8-bit drawn coffee, steam coming out of the small little cup. He looked up to see the coffee machine indeed was done. He tapped his watch once to make the coffee symbol disappear, just moving to serve himself some coffee as there was a knock on his door. 

His feet felt cold against the wooden floor and Dan tipped over to answer, taking a look through the peek hole, as usually, and then frowned when he inspected a very large, square box two guys with both blue clothes and caps were supporting, one having it mounted on a rotatruck. 

Dan opened the door, felling small next to the two bulky men, even though he was taller than both of them. 

“Daniel Howell?” the one in front of him asked, holding a form and a pencil. 

“Uh, yes?” he said, scratching his arm. 

“Do you have any sort of identification to insure us that you’re Mr. Howell?” he asked in a bored tone, Dan raised an eyebrow and turned around to fetch his wallet in his backpack, right by the door. He brought it up, fished out his driver’s license, showing it to the guy, but carefully holding onto it. 

“Okay, thank you sir. I would like you to sign here and here,” he said, showing Dan the papers and handing him the pencil. 

“Wait, I don’t even know what this is, I haven’t ordered anything, at least not this… large,” Dan spurted, gesturing towards the package that was even bigger than him. 

“It’s sent to you from,” the guy said, turning the paper and reading, “P-pasquul? Pasquale? Uhm, Jordan Liguori.” 

Dan wondered why PJ would suddenly send him something like this, if it’s big it’s expensive, that’ the rule, right? It was long until Dan’s birthday, so it couldn’t be a birthday present, could it? Why would PJ suddenly treat something like this to Dan? Was it some sort of prank?

“Could you just sign right here sir, we have other packages to deliver,” the guy behind the rotatruck said, seeming to struggle a bit with holding the weight of the box, even though he had quite big muscles, as of what Dan could see. 

“Uh, well sure,” he shrugged, a bit annoyed. He signed the two digital papers, the first signature looking a little bit crocked but Dan couldn’t bother. 

He stepped aside to let the men enter his hallway and groaned quietly as he looked around, where would he put this huge package?

“Where do you want us to put it?” one of the men asked, looking around as well. 

“The living room, I guess…” Dan replied, leading them into the TV room, scooting over the table slightly, watching as the two men slowly lowered the box onto the ground. It was almost the same length as Dan’s couch when on the floor, and just the same height as his table. He stared at the package, still half asleep to register what really was going on. There was a logo of a tree in the corner, HCDC written under it, then a smaller piece of text Dan didn’t bother to even try to read. 

“There we go,” the blond guy said and followed out with his rotatruck, Dan closing the door behind them. 

“What the fuck,” he sighed as he went into the living room to stare at the huge box again. It looked like a fucking slim fridge or something would be inside, or a fucking cupboard. Why did PJ get him some sort of furniture?

He went back into his kitchen to get his cup read first, before going back into his living room. He sipped on the coffee as he sat down on the floor beside the box, looking for some sort of description. There was nothing apart from the logo at the bottom. There stood something about legal reasons and business since the 2290th century or something. Dan finished most of his cup before carefully setting his cup on the table, dragging his palms against his pajama pants, biting his lip. 

“Let’s just get this over with,” he said to himself, pushing his hands against the sides of the box, slowly raising the top of the box. There was plastic stuck to it at the top and bottom, and after removing that he tried again, the lid easily sliding upwards. Dan carefully moved it aside and peeked down into the box. There, in front of him were just papers, some cords and more papers. 

Instructions, Dan figured and turned his gaze upwards towards the top of the box. 

Dan had never really been terrified in his life. He had almost pissed himself when he was about 14 and out with a couple of friends in the woods, scaring each other senseless. Another time was when he watched the horror movie Colorless by himself. 

Dan didn’t expect to see a person lying in the box, and his heart speed turned frantic in a matter of seconds, before he pushed himself backwards. 

There, at the end of the box, or what was supposedly the top of the box, was a person’s face. There was a plastic lid just above the male’s nose. His eyes were closed, he had deep black hair and a very pale face. He was clad in some sort of white shirt, and just above his chest the plastic turned to cardboard which the papers were placed on. 

“Holy fuck-“ Dan gasped. Why the fuck would PJ send him a dead body?

His wrist band suddenly gave off an alarming beep and Dan’s eyes snapped to it, the picture of an ambulance and a question mark behind it flashing at him. Dan tapped it away, ensuring his device he was okay and wasn’t having a heart attack at the age of 23. 

Then he glanced at the papers again, still in his shock, and titled his head towards the first one. There was the logo of the tree again, and above it said 

CYBORG HUMAN  
WE ARE GLAD TO PRESENT TO YOU  
YOUR OWN, FIRST GENERATION CYBORG HUMAN OF MODELS 300

And under that was something scribbled in handwritten text, Dan absently read it out loud;

“PHI001LES001ep29… what?”

Then it hit it. 

PJ had fucking sent him a pacman. At least that was the name given to the humanoid robots that had been roaming the earth after the 2200th century, by the critical people on the streets. Those who still talked about the robots taking over the world one day. The humanoids were indeed taking over some jobs and they were despised by a lot of people, but with the world wide regulated one-child policy, things had gotten a bit better. 

Dan hadn’t really expressed an opinion about these things, he had met a few at work and sometimes in stores. At the same time as wires instead of organs seemed a bit cool, Dan thought it was horrifying at the same time. 

And not to talk about the most known rumor about these things, they were just advanced sex toys. 

And the question remained. 

Why the fuck had PJ gotten Dan a pacman?

Dan shuffled a bit closer to the box again, still carefully keeping his eyes on the robot’s sleeping face. Or well, dead face. 

He carefully grabbed the papers and continued reading the introduction. 

Apparently the company, HCDC was the leading brand in the humanoid technology, and Dan figured that’s why he had recognized the logo, the folder talked about the history of the company, something about starting out with only kitchen supplies and Dan just skipped those pages. The folder was simply an introduction after all. 

Under that was a folder with printed papers, it seemed to contain information about the robot, it’s given name was Philip Lester and model name PHI001LES001ep29. There was a lot of numbers and words Dan didn’t understand and he simply put the folder on the floor beside the introduction. There was a smaller tablet with the tree logo on the bottom and Dan tapped the screen, nothing happening. He searched for a button on the device and found on the top, pressing it. 

As the screen slowly lit up, Dan remembered his coffee. He grabbed the cup, carefully sipping it and grimacing as it was too cold to drink now. He had forgotten to turn the heat button on and did so by his watch which was connected to his cup and almost everything else in his apartment. 

The tablet came to life and after what felt like an hour of logos, a start menu showed up. Dan pressed the 1 on the screen. 

“Hello there! I would like to welcome you to the new time of technology, the new kind of living a simpler, easier and more comfortable life. I am glad to present to you, your own, first generation cyborg human of models 300. 

But I’m guessing you’re just really excited to get to know your 300, and don’t want to listen to me babble about technical stuff. Don’t worry, I’ll get right onto the setup. If you want to find out more about your 300, or Hubot as we call them here at HCDC, just click at the 5 on your menu. 

Right, let’s get started, shall we?”

“Yeah, yeah, just fucking go,” Dan mumbled as he sipped his now again warm coffee. 

“This model that you currently have in front of you is a new model of this year, after hundreds of years of professional work and research we have constantly improved our models. What you now have is the model Hubot 300, in your very own personalized appearance. There are only about 100 made in each country we exist in, and there is none who look and act exactly like yours. These models are made to look more human, act more like a person, than any model out there on the market. 

Today’s Hubots are supposed to be just robots, to work and exist as a robot, a helper in our society. But we, here at HCDC, wanted to try something different after our research, has over and over again showed us just how remarkable a computer really can be. It’s so similar to a human’s brain we kept asking ourselves, why stop here?

This model of Hubot, the 300, is designed to be your friend, your lover, maybe a parent figure, or someone you crave in your life. You can have the model designed however you want, cloned to look exactly like someone you might want back in your life”- at that Dan raised his eyebrow, already being quite weirded out. 

“This was something new, alright,” he mumbled around his cup.

“Earlier models of this sort of Hubots, from other companies as well, have looked decent, but never fully human. This time, we’ve worked with more people ever in our labs, it’s been quite stuffed I tell you,” the woman’s voice said and giggled and Dan sighed.

“But these models, you can’t tell apart from real humans! Both in appearance and movements. You can read more about how your Hubot resembles a real human, for appearance purposes press 9 and personality and learning programs, press 10.

This is, as you might have understood, a test version you’ve gotten early access to. We will constantly report how your Hubot is acting and behaving, how it responds and learns to you. You will also have to report your experience to us, but all the information about that is in the folders and in the Hubot’s programs. 

We are glad to have you try out this first generation of models and we thank you for signing up to the program. Bye!” the woman finally finished and Dan tapped his fingers against the floor, biting his lip. 

What now?

He scratched his head, looking up towards the pacman, or Hubot or 300 or whatever, and then back onto the screen and pressed the 2. 

“Welcome. How to activate your 300,” the screen said, another woman’s voice filling the room, this one way more stiff and robotic. 

“First, you should check you have all the parts needed for taking care of your 300,” and Dan went along, pressing OK every time he found the items the box should contain. There were two spare charges, one little box of chips, depending on what sort of personality you would want your 300 to have. There were more papers, Dan discovered, some small plastic bits in a bad Dan couldn’t bother with and just pressed the OK button over and over until he got to the next part. 

There were then some rules about his life style, since this was not the finished product model, the caretaker, as they called it, should live alone or at least able to spend time with the 300. 

“First, remove the cardboard lid from the box which contained all the papers, the touch pad and extra devices.”

Dan gulped as he slowly lifted that part out of the box, now just the plastic cover between him and the Hubot. He still kind of expected it to jump at him, like in a horror movie. 

The Hubot, he noticed, was wearing black pants of some sort of soft looking material, he had black socks on as well. Very… simple. 

He pressed okay as he was done, and the voice continued;

“Remove the plastic from the box and check your Hubot for any damage by pressing the scan button,” and Dan looked at the screen where a SCAN button was flashing big and red on the screen. 

He may or may not have taken a deep breath before grabbing hold of the plastic, hitting the end of it against the legs of the Hubot, freezing in his tracks. He expected it to open its eyes, glare right at him, or at least flinch. But there was nothing. 

“Calm down, Dan,” he mumbled to himself. 

As careful as he could, he leaned over the box again after putting the plastic in the lid of the box, placed behind him on the floor. 

He pressed the SCAN button and a beep was heard coming from either the tablet or the Hubot, Dan didn’t know, then three red lights appeared, in the form of small dots, on the Hubot’s collarbone, lightning up in order, over and over again, as if it was loading. 

It gave Dan some time to examine the face of the robot a bit closer by now, staring at its face. It looked so real, so god damn real, nothing could tell Dan this wasn’t a human if it hadn’t been for the now scanning lights, or the fact that the robot was dead still. He could stop some faded freckles, a beauty spot on its left cheek, the eyelashes were not that long, and the eyebrows not brushed to perfection. It looked so… human.

After at least a minute, which Dan just spent staring at the Hubot, the screen beeped again. 

“No fails or damage was found in the 300’s programing or appearance. If you feel like this information is wrong you could do an advanced scan again here,” Dan pressed SKIP instead and was brought to the next page. 

Now, to simply start your 300, locate the button which is placed under the right arm below the armpit. Press it once to do a regular start. To do a quick start, hold the button. If you have trouble finding it, simply press WAKE UP here.”

Dan thought this must be somewhat of a test, if the person was brave enough to touch the Hubot or simply press the screen. He bit his lip and after some thinking he simply pressed the screen, discarding the thoughts of that making him a coward. 

There were three rising beeps heard, this time Dan could tell it was coming from the Hubot, he carefully backed a bit from the box, expecting the thing to jump up like a Jack in the box or something, but then after some quiet buzzing, the Hubot opened its eyes and Dan almost freaked out. 

He was glad he had put his cup down or he would have surely dropped that too, just as he did with the tablet, the thing just falling a decimeter or two onto the soft carpet, but the sound made Dan jump again. 

“-fuck,” he mumbled and grabbed it again, looking up in time to see the robot still staring straight forwards. But now he could see the pupils moving, scanning the ceiling. 

The screen in his hands beeped and he looked down. 

“Now it’s time to meet your 300! Get to know them and get them to know you. The 300 is running on the spare battery by now, you will have to load it in the next 24 hours, the chargeable battery can last up to 1 month after a full charge. If you had any problem with activating your 300 on, try the advanced scan or call us at 1002-32514822, out phone line is open-“ but Dan didn’t listen to the rest of the words as the person in front of him had slowly sat up in his box. 

Dan was obliviously gaping at the Hubot in front of him, who was turning its head, looking at the couch, up, down, then turned towards Dan. And Dan could even see, could even fucking see the emotion of surprise, the slight widening of the eyes of the robot, as it looked at Dan. It had to be human. This was a prank or something. 

“Hello,” a voice said, and Dan couldn’t grasp where it was coming from. He tried to get a word out but realized how dry his throat was, snapped his mouth closed from the gaping and bit on his tongue in the action. 

He looked around, as if the post men were still here and it was they who spoke. But Dan was alone in his apartment, with a Hubot. 

The Hubot in front of him then bit it’s lip and looked away from Dan’s eyes, scanning the rest of the room. 

“It’s a very pretty room. Is this your house?” it asked and Dan was about to gape just again before he mentally slapped himself for the second time that day and opened his mouth to instead reply. 

“Uh, yeah… thanks,” he said. At least his voice didn’t crack, he thought proudly. 

“You’re welcome. What’s your name?” The bot asked, looking at Dan again and smiling. 

“Dan, or Daniel- but Dan’s just fine,” he said, stiffly smiling back to the robot. 

“Then I will call you but-Dan’s-just-fine,” the robot said, smiling again. Dan just stared at the robot, still being a bit freaked out. 

“Uh no, my name is Dan, call me that.”

“Okay, Dan-call-me-that.”

“My name is Dan,” Dan said, slowly and loudly, staring in disbelief at the still innocently smiling robot. 

“Daniel,” the robot said and Dan finally made the expression of ‘are you fucking kidding me’ and then something totally unexpected happened. 

The robot started laughing, his tongue poking out between his teeth, his eyes almost shining with light and all Dan could do was stare is awe. 

“I’m just joking with you, Dan. Sorry if I actually offended you,” the robot said after finishing laughing, now smiling fondly at the brown haired human. 

“Oh…” was all Dan could say, still surprised and confused as how he was supposed to act around this robot. 

“Uh, okay, I’m sorry if this offends you…,” Dan started, scratching his neck and looking the Hubot over, “but should I like, treat you like a person, or like some, I don’t know, sort of device?” he tried out, almost face palming at how weird he sounded and how he absolutely made no sense. 

“Well, Dan, I’m created to be as human as possible, so that’s what I’m trained to listen and behave to, I know what jokes are, don’t worry. But if you want to use me simply like the worker models are used, I have a program for that in the programs box,” the bot said, gesturing at the box on the floor beside Dan, the one with the chips in it. 

“Oh,” Dan replied again, and then he made a quick notice of their situation. 

“Do you want to get out of the box, maybe?” Dan asked as he stood up himself, dusting off his pajamas and adjusting his shirt. 

“I would love nothing else,” the robot chuckled as a reply and braced his arms against the edges, standing up and moving just like any human. Dan moved backwards and the robot carefully stood out of the box, holding his arms out to balance himself just like a human would. 

Dan noticed he was slightly taller than the bot, and it was different having it standing in front of you like this. 

“So, what do you wanna do?” The Hubot asked, grinning at Dan. 

Oh what a day. 

***-**-*-*-*-**-***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, well that just happened. 
> 
> Most of the times I get an idea, start writing something and after 10 minutes just quit and delete the file, but this time my finger's kept tapping until hours after midnight. What the hell. hah. 
> 
> This is inspired by other excising works about Humanoid Robots btw, be there fanfiction, fanart, books, movies etc. I just love this kinds of AU. (One of the main inspirations is a TV show called "Real Humans", it's originally Swedish but there is one British and one American version in the making atm. )
> 
> If you want me to continue this, tell me! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Coats and Shoes

 

 

 

”Would you like me to make you lunch, Dan?” the robot said as he stepped into the living room, looking towards said human who was sitting on the couch, fiddling with his phone. Dan looked up, thought for a moment, then replied;

“Sure, what’ya wanna make?”

“Whatever you want… and have I suppose, I could download any receipt or just, make something out of what you have,” the bot said and then coughed in his hand “which isn’t much.”

Dan could see the small smirk play on the robots lips and he turned to glare the thing up and down.

“Are you implying there’s something wrong with my supply of food?” he asked, straining his face to fake smile. Oh, Dan could play along. Though it made him wonder how smart this robot actually was. It acted so much like a human.

“I’m not implying anything, Daniel. I’m simply… commenting on the lack of actual nutritious food.”

“Well, you don’t eat, do you? So what’s it to you, sweetheart?” Dan asked between his teeth, still smiling towards the other.

All he got in reply was a smug smile, then the bot disappeared back into the kitchen, starting to turn the room upside down.

The robot had been awake in just about an hour, first taking a tour through the house to get to know it, then sat down and stared at Dan. So he told the robot to go find something to do which led to the idea of cooking something for the human.

Dan had left 11 messages and 5 calls to PJ by now, all left unanswered. Dan knew the bot he got was just a trial version, for the company to try out these new 300 models, but why the fuck did PJ set Dan up with one? Sure, PJ wasn’t as alone as Dan was, but surely he was more interested in the robot technology than Dan was.

As a kid Dan was one of the boys to run around, messing with the robots at school and helpers at supermarkets. But those robots resembled robots, they were metallic, plastic or not even in the form of humans at all. This robot was of the new and improved technology to make them as human as possible, something that had almost created a fourth world war back in 2200. Surely it seemed as this HCDC company kept their voices low about this thing, as many people still were extremely against it, people who wouldn’t hesitate to smash the robots to pieces if they found one, to demonstrate the streets, to proclaim technology as the devil.

Dan sighed, closing his screen. He got to his feet, picking up his coffee in the move and making his way into the kitchen. There the robot was standing with his back to Dan, face in the fridge.

“How’s it going, chef?” Dan asked, a bit mockingly.

“I’m still a bit bothered by your choice of food supplies, but it’s going fine. I’m gonna make pancakes, if that’s okay with you? It’s nothing fancy but statistics say a lot of people like it. ”

Dan watched as the bot searched through the fridge, picked out the eggs, milk and butter. He still wore his white shirt and black pants, it looked so plain and a bit boring, it could almost be taken as some sort of hospital or prison clothes. Or robot clothes, Dan guessed.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I was gonna order something otherwise but pancakes are fine,” Dan said, rubbing his eyes. His eyes traveled over the black-haired Hubot in front of him, noticing the small USB port on his neck, it looked out of place, like some sort of tattoo. It was the only reminder, Dan has seen this far, that made any indication that this person in front of him wasn’t human.

“You know, I didn’t order you,” Dan said into the silence, leaning onto the door frame as the bot was done finding a bowl. He passed him and sat down by the table so he was facing him, searching for a visible reaction of the bot. The Hubot turned to Dan and raised his eyebrows.

“Really? Did I get delivered to the wrong address? In that case I have to contact HCDC immediately,” he said, looking ready to do something, like sprint or whatever. Dan swatted his hand in front of his own face, shaking his head.

“Nah, my friend ordered you for me, you’re a trial version of the final… product, right?”

The robot looked at him for a while, still not continuing with the task of cooking, searching Dan’s eyes for the truth.

“Huh,” was all the bot said, then he turned towards the wall, staring into it but still not moving, as if he was thinking deeply.

“Do you not want me here?” he asked after a moment, just before Dan was about to ask what the robot was doing. Dan was kind of surprised at the question, his turn to stare at the robots face.

Did he want the thing gone? Or was he fine with trying this thing out? Why not give it a shot? The trial was free and he didn’t have to pay anything having… a maid, practically, take care of his home when he was gone. It was a bit weird, as Dan was so used to being alone. But why not?

“I don’t know, I just wasn’t expecting a pacman to cook for me all of a sudden,” he said, trying out the harsh nickname to get a reaction.

Oh, he got one alright. In the form of one raised eyebrow and a bit of disapproving look. Dan smirked as a reply.

“And this is my first time cooking for a hairless monkey who apparently doesn’t know how to cook,” the bot replied and their earlier expressions switched in the snap of a second. But Dan had to give the thing credit, he was clearly clever… and pretty fun. And a bit cute, Dan admitted to himself.

“What do I call you, other than Pacman and Tin Man?” Dan asked, leaning his chin into his palm, crossing his legs under the table. He was admittedly already enjoying the company and small chatter.

“Well, my name is PHI001LES001ep29 and serial number is 5221-5445-9461-1466-7872-0029 but I suppose your brain can’t learn that information very quickly. There is a file in my data which states my name is Philip Lester, however,” the robot said, continuing with the task of cracking eggs.

“Philip,” Dan tried out, looking out the window at the busy traffic. It was getting close to lunch time, but since Dan’s lack of breakfast the pancakes would be more like brunch for him.

When he turned his head back the Hubot was standing in front of him, smiling, hand held out in front of him, inviting Dan to shake it. Dan looked at the other but raised his hand to shake the other’s after a moment. His hand wasn’t as cold as he expected it to be, it felt just like a human’s, a bit too smooth maybe.

“Nice to meet you, Dan,” Philip said and shook the human’s hand, his blue eyes shining with light.

 

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

“You don’t have a car?” Phil asked as they exited the apartment, Dan full on pancakes. It was still a bit chilly, even though it was May. Dan had given Phil one of his coats and a pair of shoes. Phil, of course, wasn’t bothered by the temperature but Dan was still a bit cautious with walking around with a robot who was supposed to resemble a human. He knew his friend Connor was one of the activists against the Hubots, after Marie had spoken about her fascination with the bots one evening way back. Everyone had been a bit surprised by Connor’s… interest in the robots that, as he put it ‘were the end of humanity’. After that they quietly decided to not bring it up after Marie and Connor decided to agree to disagree.

There was nothing that could tell anyone Phil was a bot if they didn’t have a heat camera, x-ray or if Phil had some sort of tracking device. Dan hid his mouth behind his giant scarf and pocketed his hands, starting towards the nearest supermarket which was just on the next block.

“I know you’re heading towards Asda but maybe we should consider going the extra street left instead, towards Tesco? They have a lot more positive reviews about them, and a lot more organic food as well. I haven’t synced with your watch, phone and home device yet, but after that I can checks your bank balance, keep track of bills and all that. But judging by how you live, you have a pretty decent job and could probably effort… better food,” Phil said, mimicking Dan about hiding his hands in his pockets.

Dan looked around, the sentence itself wasn’t something a human would say and Dan nervously smiled to one of his neighbor who passed them and entered their building, giving Phil a look.

“Yeah sure, sure, just keep it down,” Dan almost hissed, hurrying towards Asda but then remembering the change in plans and turned the other way.

Entering the store, Phil grabbed a shopping cart and Dan groaned, that meant more money spent on food but most importantly; more bags to carry home.

Dan loved food; it was one of the best things in life, according to him. But he was way too lazy to learn to cook for himself, he had tried countless of times but after cracking one of the tiles in his kitchen after dropping a pan, and burning countless of stakes, he settled with just ordering food now and then, and stocking up on microwave dinners.

He didn’t know how long Phil’s trial time was and turned to the other, poking his arm.

“How long are you staying with me, by the way?” he asked, keeping his voice a bit down, watching as Phil placed a lettuce head into their cart.

Phil turned to look at Dan, blinking.

“As long as you want me to. But if you’re talking about the trial time it’s optional, but reaches up to maximum 3 months,” Phil said, “what is the budget for this shopping trip?” he added, continuing to push the cart through the vegetable section.

Dan thought about it, that meant he could turn Phil back any moment, but 3 months was maximum. Would he be able to have a robot with his constantly for 3 moths? Even though Dan could admit he was very alone, he, half the time, loved being alone. He could do things his own pace, without being bothered or annoyed.

He just realized the robot didn’t need sleep and was awake all the time, unless he turned him off, and Dan wondered how he would be able to have his… me-time with the thing waiting for Dan to wake up. Of course, the robot very much likely had all the knowledge about that kind of, companionship and there was probably a chip in the chip-box with just those intentions, which made Dan shake his head to rid the thoughts.

Being brought back to reality, he watched as Phil put down two pomegranates into the cart after putting them in a small plastic bag.

“Why the fuck do I need two pomegranates? You don’t even know if I like them,” he said, judging Phil and putting a bag of nuts into the cart himself.

“They’re good,” Phil smiled.

“Also, juice of the pomegranate may be effective in reducing heart disease risk factors, including LDL oxidation, macrophage oxidative status, and foam cell formation. In fact, when tested on mice, oxidation of LDL by peritoneal macrophages was reduced by up to 90% after pomegranate juice consumption, “ Phil said and Dan stared at him.

“Did you just read that of Wikipedia or something?” he asked.

“Maybe,” Phil smiled, making Dan roll his eyes. This was all so weird.

After at least half an hour spent at the store they were finally at the checkout. Dan had been very amused when he found out about Phil’s ability to mimic anything, sound wise, as he kept repeating the messages that the speakers called out across the store.

“Could we please get John to cash register 4, John to cash register 4 please,” in the exact same, breaking voice of the teen who was announcing them. Dan giggled and pushed Phil lightly, and the other simply put his tongue out between his teeth again while grinning. It seemed to be a habit of the others, if robots were able to have habits, that was.

The woman smiled at the two when they started to unload the groceries onto the checkout counter and Dan realized, after he told Phil to get four larger bags to carry the stuff and start packing the stuff, that the cashier probably thought they were together. It was such a domestic thing to do, after all. Dan was a bit weirded out by the thought, the thing was a robot after all.

“Your total is £ 98.99,” she said when she had scanned all the items, smiling at Dan who brought up his wallet to pay. He gave Phil a look before getting his card out. He’d never bought groceries for that much before, except for his New Year’s party last year.

After Dan rolled up the long recite he threw it in one of the two bags Phil handed to him, and they exited the store. Dan realized his bags were both only containing light weighted items and he gave Phil another look.

“You know, even though I’m not that fit I’m not exactly weak either.”

“Oh, I know, but I’m pretty much a hundred times stronger than you, and I don’t want you to whine the entire walk home about your arms hurting,” Phil said, giving Dan a wink before crossing the road, leaving Dan dumb founded for a moment.

“Excuse me, you sassy bitch,” Dan said, looking seriously offended and getting a glare from an older lady passing, probably for his choice of words. He side stepped from a puddle and since the street was generously filled with people, he had to walk behind the other.

“Apology accepted,” Phil replied in front of him and Dan couldn’t help but to chuckle.

When they reached Dan’s apartment complex, Dan was surprised to see Phil head for the elevator. It must be working since that’s what they post men earlier probably used; even though they were pretty buff Dan doubted they had carried Phil all the way up the stairs.

“How did you know this thing worked? I’ve thought it to be broken for a while,” he said as he got into the small space with Phil, the doors closing behind them after Phil pressed the 5.

“I can read the panels, there’s no error in the programming, just small malfunctions, something that would make the thing work slower or not at all if the degrees dropped in the house,” Phil shrugged.

“Hm,” Dan replied, a bit impressed. His robot figured out a problem in less than a minute, one that the landlord and the rest of his neighbors couldn’t for years.

Just as Dan exited the apartment, he realized something major.

“God fucking damn it, hang on,” he said and put the bags on the floor, searching through all his pockets on his clothes, first his coat, then his pants, then his coat again.

He turned to give Phil a defeated face before thumping his head against his own door. He’d locked himself out again.

“Forgot the keys inside?” Phil asked and Dan mumbled a yes back. He would have to either go over to Mrs. Green’s to ask for his extra key, or down to the landlord at the bottom.

“I can try opening the door, if you want me to?” Phil asked, putting down one bag beside Dan’s. Dan turned and looked at the other, then shrugging; “Sure.”

Phil put his hand on the key reader, where the keycard was supposed to press against, and after just a moment there was the familiar beep of the lock unlocking.

“What the hell?” Dan mumbled as Phil grabbed the handle and pulled it open. Phil just smiled, looking a bit too smug as he entered the apartment with the two heavy bags.

“So I could probably get you to rob a bank for me too, then?” Dan asked as they both removed their shoes and entered the kitchen with the bags. Phil chuckled.

“Nope, that aint gonna work. I have many, inaccessible firewalls keeping me from doing anything illegal. I was able to do that because I know it’s your home and because I got… acquainted with your device earlier, not synced with it, but acquainted.

“Huh,” Dan replied, starting to unpack all the stuff they bought. Phil suddenly grabbed Dan’s hand, taking the olive oil from his hands.

“Let me, I’m storing the best before dates so I can keep track on what’s still edible and so on,” he said. Dan simply threw his hands into the air, saying something about “sure, mom,” and sitting down by the table again.

He sat there, in silence, watching while Phil stored all the food, just taking a second look at the dates on the packages, then putting it on its shelf.

“How can you be so human?” Dan thought to himself but noticed too late he had actually said it out loud. Living on his own he was used to talking his thoughts out loud, and this wasn’t the first time a thought had slipped out through his lips in the hearing distance of another person.

Phil didn’t register Dan spoke at first, and continued with his task. Dan started to wonder if the robot hadn’t actually heard him, but just then he replied.

“Unless you speak in programings and such, it’s kind of hard to explain. As a computer, I can improvise on my own, without the need of a command from something else. Since I store so much information I simply read files to act appropriate to the situation. Unless you were talking about my physical appearance?” he finished, leaning out from the refrigerator.

Dan looked down, a bit embarrassed by the question as Dan hadn’t even meant to speak out loud in the first place.

“Uh, both I guess,” he mumbled, wiping his hands on his pants.

“You would be surprised, Dan, of how many Hubots you’ve actually met and passed in your life, and actually thought they were humans.”

 

“Oh?”

“I’m a newer model, yes, and the company is putting a lot of money into this project in particular but us, the 300’s aren’t the first one in this series. About six years ago a few were made, and are still active today, owned by people just like you, who seek a friend, partner or something else,” Phil finished and the words made Dan a little bit uncomfortable.

After thinking for a while, Dan went into the living room and picked up the tablet and brought it into the kitchen. Phil looked expectedly at him, still unpacking the groceries, as there were a lot.

“Can I somehow control you with this, like a remote?” Dan asked, clicking around on the thing. Phil chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“If you haven’t noticed I’m controlled by voice command, in simpler words; just talk to me.”

“But if I would like to turn the sass down, is that possible? Like, could I get you to call me master,” Dan winked, resting his chin against the table, his arms stretched out holding the tablet.

“Sure, just go into Settings, then Fuck, then You,” Phil said, throwing a lemon into the air before putting it into place. Dan chuckled and swiped his fingers across the screen, reading through the menu.

“But if you’re being serious, just use command, then say whatever, I pretty much must obey that. However, I ask of you, Daniel, to please not use that without some caution. It feels… a bit weird for me being commanded to do stuff.” Phil said, not meeting Dan’s eyes as he spoke and Dan could feel himself actually feeling sorry for the guy for some reason.

“Hm,” Dan said, nodding as he put the thing down, just as Phil finished with the last item.

“But again, it’s your choice, Dan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm surprised there are actually people reading this, I'm so exited!
> 
> I would be very grateful if you send me a comment (you don't need to be logged in btw, just add a random email address) about what you expect from this story, what you like about it and what you don't. It would help me out a lot and if you have ideas about how you want the story to go, send one my way! 
> 
> Thanks! :)


	3. Clear dark sky

”PJ, what the hell, man?” Dan hissed into the phone, trying to keep quiet as he sat on his bed. Phil had sat down on a folding chair that apparently came with his box and started syncing with his home device. There was a syncing symbol on both Dan’s watch and phone and it was all so weird, Dan’s brain wasn’t exactly able to comprehend that Phil was both a robot and person, like Phil was actually syncing with Dan’s home system.

“Nice to talk to you too, Dan,” PJ chuckled into the phone. Dan had actually found his old phone, which wasn’t synced with anything else that itself, just to call PJ. It felt weird to call PJ on something that Phil was now in fully control over. 

“Why did you get me a Hubot?” Dan asked, keeping his gaze towards his closed bedroom door, maybe Phil had super hearing at was already listening to it all. But when he unpacked the chair from the bottom of the white box and sat down against the wall, he closed his eyes. It was like he was sleeping or something and Dan had stood there staring at him for a while, noticing the three dots lightning up on his collar bone in order again, this time the color was a soft green. 

“Oh it was Marie’s idea. It’s her you should thank, that girl is already doing all your chores, right? Cooking something edible, cleaning your horrible mess of a room-“

“It’s a him, PJ.”

“-oh, okay him then. What’s his name? Did you get to name him?”

“He apparently had a name, Phil, so I stuck with that,” Dan said, shuffling up further on his bed. 

“Oh? How does he look? Is he cute?” 

“PJ, seriously, why did you and Marie get me a Hubot? I nearly had a heart attack this morning, and the thing is sometimes actually kind of rude,” Dan mumbled, fiddling with his wrist watch, the thing still syncing. 

“If you don’t want it, just return it Dan. It just seemed like a fun idea and we ordered one as soon as they were released, they were all reserved in like an hour. Then, as we were reading through the conditions later we realized we didn’t fill them up, with our jobs and you know, relationship status and all.”

“So what, you have to be alone and miserable to take on in?” 

“No, Dan that’s not what I meant…”

“No, it’s fine PJ,” Dan said, mindlessly moving his toes against the soft sheets. 

“Hey, I’m seriously not saying that. I thought you might like some company, that’s all. And again, if you don’t want it, just return it. It doesn’t have feelings, so don’t feel mean. It’s there to make your life better,” PJ said over the phone, the sounds of a TV or radio being turned on far away. 

“Yeah, okay. See you, PJ,” Dan finished the call, not bothering waiting for PJ to say his goodbyes. Dan knew his friend sometimes gave him worried looks when the other’s started talking about girlfriends and boyfriends and Dan usually brought up his phone when those conversations came up. 

Did PJ really pity him?

Dan sighed and tried to free his head from those thoughts and entered the living room again, where Phil was still sitting, loading or syncing or whatever. Dan realized there was a cord coming out from Phil’s right sleeve, plugged into his wall socket. That meant he was charging, right? Dan got closer, watching the three dots, now light blue. He guessed the colors were all different depending on what Phil was doing, red for scanning, green for syncing and blue for charging, maybe?

“I’m seriously tempted to scare you right now but I’m worried you’re gonna seriously hurt yourself if I do that,” a voice suddenly whispered and Dan jumped a mile into the air, staring at the Hubot who had opened his eyes, smirking at Dan. 

“You fucking-” Dan yelled, glaring at Phil who just did his signature laugh, tongue out. 

“Sorry,” Phil chuckled. 

“So what, you’re suddenly allowed to make my bills raise sky high? How much electricity do you actually take?” Dan said after sitting down on his couch, staring at the other. 

“Don’t worry, I’m still cheaper than you are with all your food and toilet paper,” Phil smiled and Dan rolled his eyes. The chair looked so weird, plastic and out of place so Dan waved Phil over to sit on the couch with him. 

“I don’t like the chair, can’t you just sit on the sofa? Does your um… cord, run that long?”

“Sure,” Phil said, standing up and folding the chair against the wall and slid it behind the sofa, before sitting down beside Dan, the cord rolling out longer from his sleeve. 

“The cord is coming from my armpit, the on and off button is just below, if you’re wondering,” Phil said, searching Dan’s face. 

“Huh, so that’s where I turn you off at night?” Phil giggled as a reply and Dan rolled his eyes. 

“Ha ha, very funny Phil. You know what I meant.”

“You don’t really need to deactivate me at all, I’m usually charging at night and then I can go into resting mode.”

Dan nodded, staring at his TV before bringing up his watch to turn it on, but stopped in his tracks to turn to Phil. 

“Can you turn the TV on? I’m just wondering…”

“Just say the magic word,” Phil laughed and the TV lit to life, the logo presenting itself to them. Dan shook his head while chuckling, this was all so strange. 

“Okay, I wanna see if you can beat me in a car race,” Dan said, getting up to fetch his two controllers. He guessed Phil didn’t need one to play but he wanted them to play as fair as possible. 

“A lot is decided on random, so neither of us have an advantage either,” Dan said, sitting down beside the other, handing a remote to Phil. Phil tried it in his hands, feeling the buttons before grinning towards Dan.

“Get ready to get your ass beaten,” Phil laughed and Dan smirked. 

“Oh, really?” 

And the game was on. 

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

“Wait, so you had never heard that song?” Phil asked and Dan, who was still in awe, gaping, shook his head. 

“No! I completely missed it, I don’t understand how!”

“Busy with work? You seem a little stressed… sometimes,” Phil said, carefully smiling. 

The ‘Loud Mouth’ song that was now playing from Dan’s speakers, filling the room, made Dan chuckle. Dan had started to teach Phil all about good music, starting with his favorite bands and rappers. When they got to Loud Mouth Dan bragged that he knew all their songs, Phil had read through Dan’s playlists and found he lacked one they had recently released. It was a bit odd watching Phil stare off as he was searching through Dan’s music in his computer. 

“Work can be stressful, that’s life, Phil. But oh my god, this song! I’ve never heard it, when was it released you said?”

“This January, so quite some time ago. It’s made for a movie though, so maybe that’s why you didn’t get notified by your music program.” 

“Hmm,” Dan said, scratching his neck. 

Phil had been with Dan for the entire weekend and it was closing in on Sunday evening. Dan had work tomorrow at 07:00, already rubbing his eyes, just imagining how tired he would be. He could try to get into bed in time but he knew it would never happen. 

They had spent all 3 days doing nothing in his apartment, apart from going to the store for groceries Friday. Phil had seemed to show a liking to playing games on Dan’s PS150 and Dan laughed, starting singing;

“Phil and PS150, sitting in a tree,” only to receive a glare from the Hubot. 

“At least he’s nicer than you,” Phil said and Dan chuckled. 

“Then you two can go out your cords and cables into each other’s plugs-“ and received a hand on his mouth by Phil. 

“Stop it,” Phil laughed and it resulted in Dan biting Phil’s finger with no reaction other than a raise of eyebrows from the Hubot’s part. 

“Oh, you can try, Daniel,” he said and Dan slapped Phil’s hand away from his mouth, swatting the other on his arm in the move. 

“Ey, Tin Man, no plying my PS150 if you’re not being nice,” Dan said, laughing at the other who suddenly pouted. 

Dan had decided he liked Phil’s company, he had made the bot change his clothes this morning, even though the other didn’t sweat, or even rust, it seemed weird for him to wear the same pair of clothes all the time. 

He had demanded Phil go to change in the bathroom, giving him a pair of black skinny jeans and one of Dan’s more colorful sweaters he rarely used. He knew Phil wasn’t a ken doll downstairs since the bots were often talked about as being the best sex toys out there, with no limited stamina and stronger, faster movements. Dan rolled his eyes at himself as he got a bit red in the face, whispering “are you 8 or what, Dan?”

Phil looked good in the clothes, he seemed to have the same size as Dan, maybe he was a bit more buff around the torso area, but they probably had the same size. 

“What’s the time?” Dan asked, his feet resting in Phil’s lap on the couch as he was lying down on it sideways, both watching some cooking show. 

“You’ve got your watch right on your wrist, sweetheart,” Phil replied and Dan ignored the ironic nick name, kicking Phil lightly in his stomach. At first Phil had just stood in the room while Dan took up all the space on the couch. Dan told him to sit down so he sat on the floor and Dan laughed, saying Phil could massage Dan’s feet. 

After sitting down for a minute Phil had actually asked Dan if he wanted a foot massage which Dan quickly declined, trying not to make the situation awkward. 

“And you’ve got a clock before your eyelids, I’m guessing.”

“Its 19:06 and I don’t,” Phil said grabbing hold of Dan’s feet. 

“Maybe we should eat something,” Dan said, yawning and stretching out further on the sofa. He didn’t even register he used the word ‘us’, he was already getting used to Phil company. 

“What do you want?” Phil asked, getting up from the couch almost instantly. 

“Well I know what I want to drink at least,” Dan said, getting up as well, turning off the TV. He walked over to his cupboard with drinks and asked Phil if he could turn on some sort of “dinner playlist or whatever” and after just a moment the apartment was filled with soft piano keys. 

“You know I actually have a piano, it’s in my bedroom” Dan said as he opened the cupboard, searching for the right bottle. 

“Yeah, I saw it when I did the tour thingy,” Phil replied from the kitchen, the sound of pans rustling in there. Dan picked out one bottle of red wine, labeled just a few years old, but shrugged. 

“What are you making?” he asked as he took out two glasses, then realized his actions and quickly put one back, hoping Phil didn’t see. He turned around and Phil was indeed turned towards the stove instead. He poured himself a half glass and left the bottle on the counter, sitting down by his table. 

“I’m thinking some sort of stew? Or maybe spaghetti? It’s actually spaghetti day today, according to the German calendar,” Phil said, cleaning the desk with a cloth. 

“Sure, sounds great,” he chuckled, taking a sip. 

Phil started preparing the food and Dan ended up helping, cutting tomatoes and onions. They were midway through a guitar song when it suddenly switched to another piano one, Dan gave Phil a look and the Hubot shrugged. 

“I didn’t like that one,” he simply said and Dan nodded and went back to his task. 

There was an ambulance passing outside, but other than that it was very quiet and peaceful for a Saturday evening in London. Dan zoned out from cutting the salad, watching the lights down on the streets fade into a million colors. The sky was clear as well, and very, very dark. Phil eventually carefully took the knife from Dan as the other was still distracted by deep thoughts, watching the stars and finished the salad himself. 

“Can I ask you something, it might be a bit personal,” Phil asked as he sat in front of Dan when the food was finished, leaning his head on his hands which were flat against the table. Dan looked at the other, mouth full of food. 

“I guess,” he said around the very pleasant tasting spaghetti. 

“Are you alone, Dan?” Phil asked cautiously, observing Dan’s face for emotions. Dan looked down at his food and started fiddling with it, looking at anything other than Phil. 

“I don’t know, honestly,” he said quietly, after thinking for a while, brushing a strand of hair out of his face. 

“How can you not know?” Phil tilted his head to the side. Dan took another swig of his wine, realizing he’d already emptied two glasses. 

“I guess sometimes I feel a little like… I want someone to just chat with, you know, complain about the loud neighbors, and go out to dinners with, get drunk with. But most of the times I’m fine with being alone, I kinda like it. I would never be able to be with someone I would have to constantly… I just like being me, lazy old me. And when you have people over you need to be social, nice and all that jazz,” Dan mumbled and kind of slurred at the same time, tapping his fingers against the table in tune with the piano song, as he recognized it. 

Phil nodded, but didn’t mention it again that evening. Dan suggested they watched a movie, which Phil was up for, of course. Browsing through the new movies Phil read reviews at the same time. After a few minutes they settled for two movies they wanted to watch and ended up watching three. 

Towards the ending of the third movie, which was also a horror movie as the others, Dan felt himself drowse off more than once. He woke up a third time when there was a jumps care in the film, coughing in his hand as Phil smiled at him. 

“Maybe you should go to bed,” Phil whispered as the volume on the TV was lowered, probably Phil’s doing. Dan yawned and shook his head. 

“Turn it up, I want to know what happens to the little girl, Lisa.”

“Lisa has already died, the mother killed her,” Phil said, giving Dan a somewhat fond smile. 

“Oh,” was all Dan said and he slid down on the couch again, sighing loudly. 

“Bed time?” Phil asked again and Dan rolled his eyes, groaning as he got up. 

“Yes, mom.”

The human stopped in the entrance to his room, rubbing his eyes as he turned back to Phil. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Dan said, yawning again. 

“Goodnight, Dan,” Phil said, smiling

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

Dan woke up with a loud gasp, his hands grabbing at his throat. 

“Help,” he wheezed out, coughing between gasps, his legs shaking beneath the too warm covers. He was sweating really bad but his chest felt cold. The alarm clock fell to the floor and Dan watched as his vision got blurry. He needed to breathe, to blink. 

“Dan?!” A voice yelled, his door busted open. Dan doubled over, his hands gripping hard around his throat. Where was he?

“Dan, stop it, you’re hyperventilating,” the same voice yelled again and suddenly two hands were all over him, one losing his death grip he had on his own throat, the other pushing on his back, making him sit up straight. Dan coughed and tried to breath as the same time. Then the two hands moved and were placed on his cheek, they were warm and soft. It reminded him of his mother’s hands on his face when Dan was crying as a child. 

“Breathe. Slower. Dan, come on, calm down,” a face said in front of him and Dan shut his eyes closed, focusing on only breathing slower, and not coughing. 

After at least a minute had passed he had calmed down. Dan kept his eyes shut as he had now realized what had happened. He had been experiencing a bad night mare again and Phil had come to help him. Last time Dan had fainted from the hyperventilating and woken up later on the floor, this time Phil was there to help him. Which was incredibly embarrassing and Dan would just rather keep his eyes closed and pretend he was still in shock, for a little longer. 

“Dan, are you okay?”

God damn it. 

Slowly he opened his eyes, meeting Phil’s blue ones who were almost shining in the dark room. It was completely pitch black and Dan had to squint his eyes to even see anything, other than the two blue orbs centimeters from his face. 

“I cant’s see,” Dan whispered, his throat still sore. As he blinked again he noticed the tears that fell from his eyes. Fuck, this was way too embarrassing. 

“Sorry,” Phil whispered back in a soft voice, Dan’s bedroom light slowly fading to light by Phil’s telepathic command. 

“Are you okay now?” Phil asked, sounding worried. He was still holding Dan’s face and this was all very intimidate, Dan thought to himself, cursing his brain for having severe nightmares in the first place. To make matters worse the Hubot dried away his tears as well and that was the line for Dan. He carefully but sternly grabbed Phil’s wrists to remove his hands. 

“I’m fine. Sorry if I woke you up, or interrupted you or whatever,” Dan coughed out. 

“It’s fine. Was that a nightmare? You acted like you weren’t even here for a while there,” Phil said and Dan noticed the Hubot looked a bit shocked. 

“Yeah, no I’m fine Phil, don’t bother,” Dan said, moving his legs but realizing they were stuck between Phil’s. He was sat on his knees with either side of Dan, trapping him. 

“Uhm,” Dan tried, moving his legs a bit to give the other the message to get off. 

“Are you sure you’re okay? I don’t need to call for an ambulance or anything?” 

“No, its fine, Phil. Just, get back to, whatever you were doing,” Dan said, swatting his hand in front of his face, wanting to slide back into his bed again. 

“Okay,” Phil said hesitantly, keeping still for a moment before getting off Dan. He then stood by the bed, staring down at the other, looking like he wasn’t sure what to do. 

“Are you planning on staying here?” Dan asked, getting back under his covers and glaring a bit at the other, nose and the rest of his body downwards hidden by his duvet. 

“Sorry,” Phil said and turned to walk out. Dan blinked a few times and then he slapped his hand to his forehead. 

“God damn it, Dan,” he cursed to himself, turning off his lamp as Phil had forgotten to. He had been having these occasional, severe nightmares since he was 15. There was no medicine he could take against it, since they weren’t regular or appearing that often. But when he had them things could get bad, as his body for some reason took a lot of time wakening up, he often ended up fainting because of hyperventilating or for getting overwhelmed for whatever reason. 

Dan was so scared that if he ever started seeing someone this would happen and the person would freak out. Truth is Dan was also to hurt someone else, as he had more than once hurt himself, physically, just like this time, almost strangling himself. He never remembered much from the nightmares or his ‘waking up’ from them, which was the dangerous part. 

 

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

“Seriously, Phil, you didn’t have to make breakfast for me. I usually just get a sandwich or something simple,” Dan said as he was chewing down on the omelet Phil had made him when he exited from his shower. 

“Oh,” Phil replied, standing there, drying off the plates from the dish washer and putting them in the cupboard. 

“So, first day being alone. Are you going to make it?” Dan asked, chuckling. He finished the plate and helped Phil unload the last of the clean plates, to put in his dirty one. 

“Well honestly I’m not sure what to do, so I might just shut down or something,” Phil answered and it wasn’t what Dan had expected. 

“Really? But like, do you have a concept of time? Do you get bored?” he asked, closing the cupboard as the last glass was put in place. They hadn’t talked about Dan’s little incident that night yet, and Dan was happy to keep it that way. 

“Kind of, it’s hard to explain and I don’t really get it myself… but kind of,” Phil replied, staring off into the distance. 

“Whatever you say man,” Dan said and patted the other on his shoulder as he left the kitchen. 

When Dan was just about to leave, back pack on and keys in his pocket, he turned to Phil who was standing in his hallway, watching him. 

“Seriously, you’re free to do what you want. Watch a movie, have a party with all the dust bunnies, play ‘mommy-daddy-child’ with the PS150 and the toaster,” Dan laughed and Phil rolled his eyes. 

“I kinda don’t want you to leave the apartment though, if that’s okay,” Dan said a bit hesitantly, watching Phil’s reaction, “if that’s okay with you,” Dan added quickly. 

“No, I understand. I’m not going anywhere without you, don’t worry,” Phil said, smiling. 

It felt weird, leaving that morning. He was early today too, both because he usually couldn’t sleep very well after his nightmares, but also because Phil’s cooking had woken him up. Not the sounds of cooking, because Phil could be very, very quiet when he wanted to be, no, it was the scent that woke Dan up, the food addict that he is. 

His day at work was a bit stressful, more than he expected. They had some difficulty with one caller at one part and Dan’s boss gave him a look, Dan quickly tapping away on his keyboard and pressing buttons. 

He later walked in on two of his co-workers who were talking shit about some new girl at the company, they gave Dan a look before continuing. Dan didn’t even bother to talk to anyone other than when he had to, for lunch he went out to Mark’s, a local pizzeria with a nice enough restaurant to sit in. 

When he was one hour onto his last shift, the one after lunch, his boss went over to his table, mid song, looking a bit stressed herself. 

“I’m sorry to tell you, Dan, but John just called in sick. Can you do four extra hours today? We really need you.”

Like he even had a choice to say no. 

“Sure, but maybe you need to get more extra staff who can fill out if someone’s sick as this is happening a lot lately,” Dan said, being quite rude but not even caring. Compared to what he was saying inside his head, those words where very nice. 

“Great, thanks, Dan. And I know, we’re working on it,” she said, already disappearing back into her office. 

Five hours later, Dan was stumbling out of the BBC building, looking grumpier than ever. Today was not a good day. 

After the 15 minutes long ride on the subway and 5 minutes’ walk home and up the stairs, or taking the elevator in Dan’s case today, he was finally pushing his key against door before practically tripping inside. 

“Fucking god damn it,” he cursed as he kicked his shoes off, throwing one off to far, hitting another shoes which fell to the floor. His coat was hung on its place and he grabbed his bag, making it for the living room. 

“Phil?” He called, but stopped in his tracks as he saw that the Hubot was sitting on the cough. 

“So, what have you been up to? Got any moves on the PS150?” He teased but didn’t get any reply. 

“Phil?” He tried again and walked in front of the other, noticing how his eyes were closed. 

Dan stared at him for a while, wondering what to do. He tried gently tapping his shoulder as first, then swatting him a bit harder, still no reaction. 

“What the hell,” he mumbled but then, before he got to make himself more worried, he remember Phil had talked about shutting himself off. 

Dan looked around the tablet but couldn’t see it, not in the living room and not in the kitchen. He brought up his watch to search for a feature where he could locate the device that came with Phil, but he couldn’t find it. He was about to ask Phil where to find the feature when he realized that wouldn't work. 

He remembered, from the tutorial, how to turn the Hubot on, but it all seemed a bit weird. Dan would just rather press a button on a screen than dig around in Phil’s armpit. But it was way too weird to have a dead robot in his living room. 

Dan leaned down in front of him, tried pushing Phil’s arm up but realizing it was really heavy he gave up. With one hand sneaking in between his body and arm, he searched for some sort of button. He went to high at first and his finger suddenly dipped inside the skin, where he felt something hard and mentally. Dan yelped and pulled back his arm, then realizing it was probably the plug Phil used for charging. 

Because curiosity took over, Dan lifted Phil’s arm with both hands, resting it on the back of the couch and pulling up Phil’s sweater, which was the same as yesterdays, and looked at the small fold of skin. He poked with two fingers inside and grabbed the metal thing. Maybe this wasn’t at all Phil’s plug for charging, and if he pulled the Hubot would break. But after carefully pulling on it, he took a deep breath and pulled it harder. It was indeed the plug and Dan felt relived, he didn’t know why. He dropped it and watched it roll itself back into the skin. 

“Huh,” Dan switched his gaze downwards to the small button a bit lower, there was no indication this was the on or off button but Dan braced himself before pressing it, quickly dropping Phil’s shirt and taking a step back. 

There was a loud beep but then nothing happened, there was a bit of light shining through Phil’s sweater, where it covered his collar bone, the three dots probably the cause of that. 

“Wakey, wakey?” Dan tried and then Phil snapped his eyes open, is eyes meeting Dan’s. 

“Oh hey, how was work?” Phil asked, getting up from the couch, standing in front of him. 

Dan smiled. 

It was nice to be back home.


	4. Him

”Hey, I was thinking about going shopping today, I need a better pair of shoes. Maybe we could get you something too.” Dan was avoiding talking about if Phil was leaving, and suggested that they found something for the other; “you’re always wearing the same thing.”

“You sure you wanna spend money on that?” Phil asked and Dan felt himself stop midway folding a shirt, then Phil added “because I don’t really need it, I don’t sweat and all that.” Phil probably knew Dan was avoiding the entire matter of Phil actually only being a trial. Phil had stayed with him for over a week now and Dan was being so used to having Phil around, he didn’t want to think about leaving him.

Dan knew Phil was expensive, really, really expensive and if he decided he wanted to keep Phil after 3 months, it would cost him the earth. So he ignored the matter, when the time is here, he will deal with it then, right now is more important and Dan was enjoying it a bit more than usual. But he had started to put away a bit more money into his savings than usually, which of course, never hurt.

“Come on, I’m done,” Dan said, folding up the last shirt and putting it in his wardrobe. Phil was sitting on Dan’s bed, playing on his old game consol.

He got up from the bed, following Dan into the hallway, grabbing the coat which was practically his by now, Dan thought it looked very good on the other as well. After grabbing his wallet himself, not bothering with the scarf this time as it was getting a bit warmer, they exited the apartment together.

Dan had asked Phil, that Wednesday, what he thought about the activists against Hubots and Phil had looked down at the table, suddenly looking a lot smaller than usual. Then he spoke, a bit quietly;

“I’m a bit scared, honestly. Because I don’t understand why they are so afraid of us, we’re not threat, we rely so much on humans to exist, we were made to help and benefit the humans from the start, that will never change.”

Dan had nodded, feeling even worse about what he was going to ask of Phil.

“Uh, cause I, uhm, I don’t want to offend you Phil, really, but I was thinking, as we’re going to the supermarket again now, if you could, I don’t know, maybe make it less visible that you’re a Hubot? I mean I have absolutely now problem with you being one! I’m entirely on you’re side- you know what! You’re better than humans, much more nice and caring-“ And Dan kept blabbering on while Phil was sitting there, smiling at him, head resting in his palm.

“- because humans are really fucking evil while you’re just here trying to help, we need more Hubots really! It’s so stupid how humans accuse you of being the bad guys-“

“Dan, relax. I’m not offended, I understand where you’re going, you don’t want people to notice because you don’t like the attention, right?” Phil asked, smiling fondly at the human who was bowing his head a little, nodding.

“And you don’t want to get into a fight if someone realizes I’m a Hubot, you just wanna stay low?”

“Yeah, sorry if that bothers you,” Dan said, looking at Phil as if he was a dog and had done something bad, apologizing to his owner. But Phil only chuckled.

“It doesn’t, if you don’t want me talking technology when we’re out, that’s fully understandable. And if you were thinking about a cover sticker for my USB port, there are some in my paper files, I’m sure.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks, Phil.”

Dan took a look at the sticker on Phil’s neck as the other walked down the stairs in front of him. Phil had showed Dan how to put it on that night a few days ago, and it really did the job, now Phil really looked fully human.

“So where do you wanna go?“ Phil asked as they stepped outside, May still being too chilly for spring.

“I like Top Man, or Dog Hands, Mark and Markus, they are all on West Minister Road so we could take the underground to the closest station, okay?” Dan asked, starting his way towards his nearest underground location. Phil nodded and followed behind, for a Saturday it was already packing with people on the streets. Dan was getting a bit annoyed he had to turn around to look for Phil again and again, after some time he pulled on Phil’s arm to make him walk beside him.

“Take some space, people aren’t gonna hate you for it,” Dan said to the other, holding him by his arm, Phil looking around at all the people.

“But I’ve already accidently pushed two people, and one mumbled something very rude,” Phil said. Dan rolled his eyes and sighed; “Only you Phil, only you.”

They had to jog down the stairs since the crown was going so fast, downwards to the fast trains. Dan realized, just in time before stepping towards the gates, that Phil didn’t have an oyster card. He quickly pulled Phil out from the stream of people to the side, looking for the closest paying machine, finding one he stood in line behind two sour looking women. He still had his arm around Phil’s. For some reason he felt like Phil was the kind of person to get distracted by a dog or something and disappear, and in a way, he was sort of Dan’s possession to look after. If he lost Phil he would probably own the HCDC a fortune, if they didn’t find him that was. Which, on a second though, probably was easy, as Phil had to have some sort of tracker on him.

“You need to get your own oyster card, we can’t ride on the same one.” Dan said, meeting Phil’s curious gaze.

“But I don’t need one, I just use my hand. You get a bill every month for a Hubot’s costs, which is cheaper than yours. It’s a new future from the company” He said and Dan stared at him for a while, before shaking his head.

“Nonsense, you’re getting a card yourself,” Dan said, turning back to the machine as it was now his turn. It sounded so odd when Phil spoke about the company, as some sort of employer from their store. He checked his balance first, then loading a new card with money for 50 days, he could of course use the card himself later.

Phil didn’t comment on it, he just accepted his card and swiped it like Dan did. They stood on the platform, a sea of people talking around them, most people with headphones, ear shells or buds on, in their own word.

Phil was pushed by a group of teens who forced their way to the front of the platform, being loud and annoying as teens usually were. Dan gave them a look while Phil just looked confused.

“You’re not supposed to apologize if that’s what you’re thinking off,” Dan whispered over Phil’s shoulder, the Hubot giving Dan a look and Dan knew he had been correct on what Phil was thinking… processing, whatever.

The train arrived after a minute and Dan pulled Phil along to sit as far from the teens as possible, Phil didn’t want to sit at first and Dan practically pulled Phil down in the seat beside him before someone else got there first.

“I don’t need to sit, Dan,” Phil almost hissed, this clearly going against his programming to assist humans, as he was quiet doing the opposite now.

“Calm down, Tin Man. You’re doing me the favor of not letting some weirdo sit beside me, okay? Chill.” He said and Phil, still looking annoyed, rolled his eyes and huffed, crossing his arms.

“Plus, most people don’t actually need to sit either, we’re just a very lazy race,” he said, only in Phil’s hearing instance and the Hubot turned to Dan, nodding, his face expression the emotion of; ‘yes, no shit Dan, you’re so fucking lazy,” and Dan chuckled, tightening his grip on Phil’s arm. It was becoming quite a habit by now, it made him reassured that he knew where Phil was.

After the ride, which was just through three stations, Phil quickly got up as Dan said they were stopping here, glaring a bit at the human as there was a woman standing beside them, clearly not bothered herself by standing, but Phil, oh Phil, he looked like he was about to cry, that desperately he wanted to give his seat to her. Dan found it quite amusing and Phil looked at Dan like he was the devil, looking so distressed.

“Hey, seriously, I want you to stay with me all the time, okay?” Dan said, wondering if he should try the ‘command’, something he still hadn’t. But Phil said it felt weird, so he’d kept from it this far. But he was really terrified to lose Phil in the masses of people or in the stores.

“I’m not going anywhere, don’t worry Dan. You’ve got me on your phone too, do you want me to show you?” He asked as they were standing inside the first store, it was a lot calmer in there, the music funky and very-much-shopping-store.

Dan brought up his phone and the links started to click and move on themselves, Phil directing them with his invisible mouse or whatever. There was a map brought up and the arrow, Dan’s phone and watch, was just standing beside a blue dot.

“Oh, okay, good. But I still don’t want you walking away too far,” he said. Phil smiled, a sort of smile Dan had never seen before and he felt himself blush, turning to the side.

“Well then,” he said, coughing, “let’s start with Mark and Markus’ right here then.”

Entering the store, he still kept an eye on Phil. He told him to find something he liked and Phil looked like a question mark, repeating ‘something I like?’

“Yeah dude, I’m sure you’ll find something.” Dan knew what Phil meant, he wasn’t really sure if Phil was able to ‘like’ material stuff like clothes, did the robot have a fashion sense? He knew Phil relied on statistics and online opinions, constantly when he processed things, so would he look up today’s fashion trends or something?

“I like a lot of colors, colors mean good things,” Phil said after a while of just following Dan around the store, quite awkwardly. Dan shrugged; “whatever you say, Phil.”

Dan picked out one sweater for himself and a pair of gloves. Phil gave him a look.

“Why do you need gloves in May?” he asked and Dan shrugged, pouting a bit, like he was personally offended.

“They’re cheap and I’ll need them when it’s winter again.”

“Winter is just over, it’s a while until-“

“I’m saving money this way, okay? I’m just being economics-smart, okay?”

“Whatever you say, Dan,” Phil mimicked Dan from before.

Phil ended up picking out two shirts he wanted to try and Dan pushed him towards the changing rooms. He waited outside, checking some email while Phil changed inside. One shirt was simply gray with a pocket of pineapple prints.

“The mannequin wore it, it looked good on him,” Phil resonated, turning around as Dan looked at him. It looked soft and a bit thin, but as it was a bit loose on Phil, it looked really good. The next shirt was one with clouds printed on it, and Phil looked great in it. It wasn’t something Dan would pick out himself, but prints had been coming back lately, and Phil looked… surprisingly cool in the shirt.

Dan realized, at the counter than both of Phil’s shirts were very cheap, and he guessed Phil was checking the price tag before the actual clothing.

“I don’t want you to just read the price, Phil. You know money isn’t a problem for me,” making sure the other was following into the next store. Phil stayed quiet behind him as Dan tried out shoes, giving opinions only when Dan asked.

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

“My feet are hurting, ugh,” Dan said as they exited Top Man, the clock striking way too late, “and I’m hungry,” he whined and Phil held out his hands to grab more of Dan’s bags, but the human refused.

“You fine with going home now?”

“Yes, please,” Phil asked, still looking a little overwhelmed by everything. Dan smiled and nodded towards the station, just right in front of them.

It took them around 20 minutes to get home, and Dan nodded for Phil to get the door open “with his magic hand of sweet justice” and fell to the floor after stepping inside after Phil.

“Are you okay?” Phil asked, not sounding that worried, and he set the bags down towards the wall, they had done way more shopping than planned. It had been a while since Dan was out and he had forgotten how crazy he could get at sales. So of course his favorite store, Dog Hands had held a major spring sale, people were pulling on clothes inside and Dan went a bit crazy himself, showing clothes in Phil’s face to both hold for him and try himself. One shirt, which Dan picked out for himself, fit a lot more on Phil, together with his black hair.

“No, I’m not. My shoulders hurt so fucking bad, and I feel disgusting,” he said into the ground. Phil stepped over him and collected all the bags, putting them with the others. Then he removed Dan’s jacket, humming and agreeing to all Dan’s complaining about weird, smelly and rude people, about sweating and screaming children.

“I need a shower,” Dan finished and just stood over Dan, waiting for the guy to get up. After nothing happened, he leaned down, bringing his hands to Dan’s waist.

“What are you doing- NO, PHIL! STOP I-IT!” Dan yelled loudly as Phil stared tickling him, laughing himself, standing with his legs on both sides of Dan. The human tried to pry Phil’s hands away, barely getting a word out as he was laughing so much. He turned around on the floor and got a good grip on Phil’s right hand. It was the first time Dan had experienced Phil’s true strength himself, it felt a little scary.

“S-stop it, seriously,” Dan breathed as Phil let his hands get caught, grinning above him. His fringe was hanging into his eyes and with his tongue between his teeth he looked… a bit different.

Dan felt something move inside of him, his eyes greedily taking in the sight in front of him. There was a warmth spread inside of his chest and his eyes widened.

Oh no.

Dan sat up, almost hitting his head against Phil’s crotch in the move, then standing up, scratching his neck and straightening out his clothes.

“See, it worked. I got you up,” Phil said, smiling. Dan shook his head, chuckling.

“Yeah whatever. I’m gonna go clean up, actually you should too, after me, cause the outside world is dirty, and even you can’t withstand the filth,” he said and made his way towards the bathroom.

“Could you please put on the coffee maker for me, Phil? I’m seriously craving some.”

“Of course,” Phil said from the hallway.

Halfway through his shower Dan started to hear bit and pieces of music, mostly piano and he smiled while his eyes were closed, rubbing the shampoo into his hair.

“ _When I give my heart it will be completely,_ ” a woman’s soft voice sang, filling the entire apartment. Dan felt his shoulders relax a bit with the warm water, but he was still hurting a bit. He knew that sitting for hours at his desk in the same position wasn’t good for his body, added with the rare occasions that Dan actually exercised; he would probably be horribly crippled as an older man. The computer generation back 300 years ago developed serious problems, and the rate of musculoskeletal disorders was higher than ever.

“ _Or I'll never, never, never give my heart_ ,” the song continued and Dan rinsed off before stepping out of the shower. When the water was turned off Dan heard the music more clearly, and he chuckled. It was jazz, alright.

He dressed in a pair of sweatpants and put on a grey, soft sweater. Stepping out from the bathroom caused steam to follow him out, the outside being way too cold. Dan found a pair of socks in his bed room, drying his hair with the towel before hanging it on the drier, having walked back to the bathroom.

There was the familiar scent of coffee coming from the kitchen and Dan stepped inside, getting a mug from the cupboard, pouring some of the dark liquid into it.

“ _And the moment I can feel. That you feel the same way too_.”

“What are you cooking?” Dan asked as he turned around, watching Phil put something in the oven.

“I stole the receipt from last night’s cooking show we watched, it looked fun to make,” he said, turning up the egg timer Dan had.

“Oh the Hasselback Potatoes? You’re doing the chicken too? I didn’t think we had any,” Dan said after swallowing some hot coffee.

“We got some frozen last week, remember? We’re missing the rosemary though, but you had some other herbs that will have to do,” he said, grabbing the towels to dry off his hands.

“ _In a restless world, oh, like this is. Love has ended before it's begun_.”

“It’s great, Phil, seriously, you’re spoiling me,” Dan laughed, “Now it’s your turn to shower, get in you dirty dog,” Dan said, pointing towards the bathroom.

“Just wear your own sweatpants afterwards, I’ll fetch them and a shirt for you.”

After picking up one of Dan’s old Pokémon shirts and Phil’s default sweatpants he entered the bathroom where Phil had removed his shirt, already stripping from his pants. Dan made a quick turn, holding a hand up in front of his eyes, even though he was now turned around.

“Dude!” He yelled, holding out the clothes to the side, for Phil to grab.

“What?” Phil asked from behind him.

“You can’t just undress like that, I don’t wanna see your naked, robotic ass.”

“I’m sure you’d love to,” Phil chuckled and grabbed Dan’s clothes, blowing some air at Dan’s nape before closing the door behind him. Dan felt his face heat up and he grunted, making his way back towards the kitchen.

Phil took longer showering than Dan had thought and he even made sure to check on him once, knocking on the door;

“Are you okay in there, dude? You haven’t broken due to water leakage or anything, right?” As reply there was a bunch of beeps and other noised and Dan freaked out for a second before he heard Phil’s laugh.

“Don’t worry, I’m just kidding with you. I’m fine, I was having problem with the heat of the water earlier, but I’m done now,” as Phil said that Dan expected Phil to step outside, butt naked, forgetting clothes like the Tin Man he was sometimes, so Dan quickly walked back to his coffee on his dining table.

The food tasted great and Dan kept giving Phil props for it. They had decided for a comic this night, movie wise, and Dan kept complaining about the bad humor, but laughing along with Phil either way.

After Dan had finished his food he started to secretly watch Phil while watching, it was weird, imagining this was just a machine in front of him. The laughing, it was all fake to make him feel better, it wasn’t like Phil could actually laugh or find stuff funny. Phil wasn’t only made for helping sad humans feel better, along with his brothers and sisters, if that was an appropriate name for the other models. He was made to bankrupt sad fucks like Dan of their money too, he was just a computer made by a company which fished in millions each day, probably laughing their asses off at guys who fell for these robots, spending all sorts of money on them.

It got his mood down, to say the least, and he lied to Phil, saying he wasn’t really feeling for it anymore, when the Hubot noticed Dan wasn’t following along with the movie.

“Do you mind if I finish it myself, then?” Phil asked and it made Dan break from his heavy thoughts. That was something very human to ask and Dan figured it was something programmed to make him seem more human, maybe, but Dan was still surprised. He stood up from the couch and went to brush his teeth, coming back into the living room and Phil was still emerged in the story.

It was all too serious for Dan’s mind to process one late Saturday evening, he was way too tired for this. Yet he kept lying in his bed, eyes wide open staring into the ceiling.

Technically, Dan’s brain was just like Phil’s, in a way. It was programmed to love, to procreate, to belong which made him feel safer, Phil was programmed to behave a certain way. He listened to Phil’s soft laughs outside, those were probably not made for Dan to hear, but it was a habit the computer had fallen into. Why was Dan so much better than Phil, why did he have the right to be able to fall in love and to feel emotions, and not Phil?

Dan figured it was because the computer was something created by the human. Then this theory would work all the way if it wasn’t for the improvising technology a lot of robots used nowadays, something that was extra added and resourced in Phil’s line of robots, the 300s.

A sigh escaped Dan’s lips, he brought up his phone, playing some games with the hologram, driving a car through a zombie apocalypse, playing Tetris, jumping across spinning triangles as a very large ant. He heard the TV turn off and watched the lights behind his door turn off. He waited for Phil to go into rest mode and when his watch showed the picture of a robot sleeping, Dan turned off his tracker on his phone, made it invisible to all other units, and googled;

**Can a robot love?**

He got millions of results, very fast. It was one of the most spoken about topics and had been for a while, even though the making of humanized robots had been more quieted down. There were a lot of webpages linking to the activists against the ‘computer scum’ but also sites like Bones and Gears – Dan almost groaned out loud at the name – which was talking about all the cons of dating a robot. There were also parties which main question was this matter and Dan was overwhelmed by all this in just minutes.

After finding a few interesting articles, he did get answers he looked for, and found a few very good points. Dan had been a bit negative about it before, and found that there wasn’t much that mattered in the end. It was very obvious and clear humans could fall for robots, but if a robot was programmed to act like it loved a human, what did it really matter?

It did though, to Dan. Because the thought that a robot didn’t actually love him, just did so to please Dan, made him feel a bit sick and very egoistic.

The human brain was weird.

Love was weird.


	5. Tastes like pepsi cola

It had been three weeks, three weeks of Dan being woken up a bit too early for work, just because Phil ‘wanted company’. Dan didn’t usually stay up too late on the internet anymore, as hanging out with Phil tore him out during the day. The Hubot was always up for activities, he was a freak for board games but just as much for the next console game. Phil was so incredibly positive, Dan’s life had taken a big, fat turn. Everything wasn’t as grey, dark and blurred anymore, it was clear and colorful and Dan didn’t smile because of what Phil was laughing at on the TV, he was grinning because Phil was, because the other seemed to have so much fun.

Dan had promised Phil yesterday’s Thursday evening that since he was so tired and got to bed so early, that he would wake a bit earlier to watch Phil’s favorite TV show with him, Life with the Badger Family. It was some sort of animal show about a badger family that people had put subtitles under, which made the entire thing so ridiculous. But for some reason, Phil loved it.

“My processors are loving this,” he had chuckled and Dan had giving Phil a look, shaking his head, mumbling ‘you’re weird’.

“Well I think it’s time I leave now,” Dan said, getting up from the couch. The badger show had just ended and Phil was pouting about Dan already leaving. It was Friday and Dan had promised PJ to bring Phil for their dinner that night. Both Marie and PJ had been bugging Dan about wanting to meet him, but Dan had keeping postponing it, since he found the time spent with Phil alone so peaceful.

“Aww,” Phil whined, getting up beside Dan. He followed Dan into the hallway and Dan put his finger in front of Phil’s nose before leaving, looking at him like he was his parent.

“Alright Phil, not too much TV this time. You’re gonna grow addicted and become an old TV-couch-hag with her cats dying in the kitchen, okay?” he said and Phil snickered, pushing Dan’s hand down.

“I’m fine, I promise I’m gonna rest today too,” he said, swinging a bit on his heels.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Dan chuckled and exited his apartment, Phil waving after him.

After Dan had left, Phil continued browsing the channels until Dan came home from work hours later.

“Should we wear something fancy?” Phil asked, looking at himself in the mirror, Dan poked his head up from his laundry basket, giving a questioning look towards Phil.

“What?”

“Cause I mean, it’s like a formal dinner, right?”

“Uh, no it’s not, it’s really not, Phil. They wouldn’t even care if I showed up in a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie, its fine. Just pick a sweater you like and your black jeans. Phil hummed a reply and picked out, in no time, his striped and patterned shirt, one of Dan’s favorites on him as well.

Dan felt colorful enough for a shirt with a crocodile on it, fixing his hair like he usually did. The first time Phil had discovered Dan’s hair was normally curly he had been so fascinated by it, he didn’t get why people with straight hair wanted curly hair and the opposite.

“Humans are so weird,” he said and Dan laughed, telling Phil he was one to talk. But the more he thought about it, to a computer, humans were probably really confusing. They had to make everything complicated.

They took a bus to PJ’s place, both ignoring their coats as it was getting warmer now in and soon June. Phil’s USB sticker was on as usually, both for cover up and as Phil had explained, it was often used for protection too, which Dan agreed made sense. It made him feel a little less horrible too, for being the one who asked Phil to wear one in the first place.

When they first arrived at PJ’s things were really weird at first, PJ and Marie acted so weird around Phil and Dan was rolling his eyes and groaning internally the entire evening. PJ had made them salmon with rice and some herb sauce, it was wonderful, but Dan realized he was used to Phil’s cooking by now, which was usually a little too unsalted, for some reason, so he found PJ’s food very salty. But it was nice to not be the only one stuffing their mouth with food as they sat around the table, chatting, Phil looking like a happy child as he spoke about his badgers.

“I’m betting you all I can beat you at Ohio,” Pj said as he sat the board game down on their TV table, Dan cracking his knuckles.

“Oh really, sweetie?” He asked and PJ grinned.

“Oh really, princess.”

Phil ended up winning, Marie coming second and PJ and Dan tied, making them all fall into a fit of laughter as the results were revealed at the end.

It was starting to get late and Dan felt his eyes drop slightly more and more by each minute passing, the wine probably one of the causes. Phil started to notice too and pulled lightly on Dan’s shirt, leaning over to ask if he wanted to go home.

Dan was nodding, watching Marie and PJ chatter about the game in front of them.

“Guys, I’m getting a bit tired over here, you three robots might be able to stay up all night long, but I should get some sleep soon, or I’ll collapse on the bus,” Dan chuckled, rubbing his eyes for dramatic effect.

“Child,” PJ said, rolling his eyes and Marie just giggled.

“But don’t you wanna stay the night then? It’s getting dark outside,” she said, looking a bit worried, nodding her head towards Phil discreetly.  
She had gotten Dan alone earlier in the kitchen, warning him that there was some sort of big meeting happening in this part of London tomorrow, the activists against Hubots were meeting to talk or ‘monkey around’ as she said.

They ended up leaving after Dan’s firth yawn and Phil made Marie laugh loudly, standing there with his hands held out, in case Dan fell.

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

The bus ride home was nice, Dan was a little tipsy from the whine PJ had treated him too, but with his shoulder pressing close to Phil’s, he felt happy. Phil made him happy, so what did it matter that he wasn’t completely human. Human’s married animals back in the days, for God sake, at least this one was basically human.

“What are you thinking about?” Phil asked, smiling beside Dan, his hands clasped in his lap, looking expectant.

Dan shrugged, smiling at him and turned back to the window, watching the moon behind the tree and house tops.

“Do you want to go for a walk the rest of the way? The weather is kind of nice,” Dan asked as they were getting close to the stop right before theirs. They would have to walk through the West Park, which was usually very pretty during spring.

“Sure,” Phil shone up, watching Dan press the STOP button. Phil got up before Dan, swinging around the pole and jumping down the stairs, Dan laughing and following him.

“Lovebirds,” he heard an older lady say to her friend and Dan didn’t mind, he simply smiled and had to jog after Phil. His black hair moved in the wind and while standing under the street light, hands in pockets of his coat, he looked beautiful.

Dan felt himself trip on his own feet, stumbling a step or two.

“I’m so fucking graceful,” he mumbled, embarrassed. But Phil only chuckled and grabbed Dan’s hand, pulling him along towards the park.

There were groups of teens walking around everywhere, some drunk, some sober. The streets were much safer as the equality laws had been put into action around 50 years ago, rapists and pedophiles would be put into the island prisons immediately, and the streets were suddenly a lot safer for younger people.

A group of young girls passed Dan and Phil, one grabbed Phil’s hand on the way and danced under it, her friends laughing.

“Why don’t you come with me pretty, I’m better than your guy, promise,” she winked and Phil seemed a bit at loss what to say.

“Hands off,” Dan said, chuckling with the other girls. He pulled Phil closer and tightened his grip on his hands. Phil turned and looked at Dan, questioning.

“Your loss,” the girl shrugged and one of her friends grabbed her hand, telling her to “come on, Lena, you’re just annoying them.”

“What?” Phil asked as they had gotten a bit further away from the girls.

“What what? That girl seemed to have a thing for you,” Dan teased, swinging their hands between them. His heart had been pumping a bit faster that entire evening and he felt a warmth spread inside his chest as Phil gave Dan’s hand a squeeze.

“Oh, that was nice of her,” Phil said and Dan laughed. His watch gave away a vibration about an email and Dan ignored it, walking closer to Phil, leaning on him slightly, watching the busy streets in front of them.

They passed through the park, neither had said anything since the group of girls earlier and the silence was comfortable, Dan still mindlessly swinging their arms in a comfortable tune to some music from a club, far away. The park was indeed fixed for the spring, tulips were planted and color coordinated, it probably displayed something if you looked at them from above, from the sky. But as they passed the sea of orange tulips, Dan suddenly heard the sound of a glass bottle or something being broken.

In front of them was the tunnel which the larger road passed on, and Dan could hear some people were chatting inside it. As they closed down the stairs he watched the group of 5 teens sitting on crates and on the ground, one guy sitting and throwing empty bottles against the floor.

One was sitting in the middle, in the way holding some sort of instrument, like a security scanner they used to use at airports. Dan felt his throat go dry and he tensed, grabbing Phil’s hand harder. Phil sensed Dan’s uneasiness and looked at him as they slowly got closer to the kids.

“Move along, love birds,” one girl said, her tone clearly indicating she was drunk. She had military patterned clothes, most of them did, and a band around he arm. Dan cursed inwardly as he recognized the logo from one of the websites he had secretly browsed a while back.

“No, wait, Natty, shit. Is this one of them? Or is my X-ray broken?” Another guy beside her suddenly sad and Dan felt his blood freeze in his veins. He stopped in his tracks, making Phil stop as well and then he slowly turned them around.

“Hey, fucking stop!” One of the teens screamed behind them and Dan made a run for it, not letting Phil go. He looked to his left as he ran and almost wanted to laugh at Phil’s terrified face, but felt it maybe wasn’t appropriate as he was almost shitting himself.

The kids behind them were way too drunk to even somewhat keep up with them and soon Dan and Phil were left alone. They took another route around the tunnel but Dan didn’t stop running. He only did when he saw his own apartment down the street. There were some teens walking on the other side of the road, most of the wearing the military clothes and the band, two were also carrying metal bats thrown over their shoulders. They didn’t seem to notice Dan and Phil on the other side, and the pair quickly escaped into safety behind locked doors.

Dan didn’t even bother taking the elevator, he was still high on adrenaline and rushed up the stairs, hearing Phil right behind him. He moved aside as he got to the top, staring at Phil is the dark.

“Get us in,” he breathed, this entire thing making him… exited. Phil gave Dan a look, his fake breathing almost as loud as Dan’s. Or maybe his fans were running, Dan didn’t know. The Hubot slapped his palm against the key card lock, getting them inside almost instantly.

Dan breathed heavily as he got inside, leaning again the hallway wall, his knees almost shaking.

A loud pulse.

A too fast heartbeat.

Loud music coming from outside.

Exchanged gazes in the dark apartment.

Then Dan did something he himself didn’t even expect, he grabbed Phil by his neck, brought him close and stared up his face, gasping hot air at the other. Dan leaned forwards, closed his eyes but stopped, his voice shaking. There was the sound of cop cars running outside. What was he doing?

But then Phil closed the space between them and Dan was caught off guard again, but after just a moment he met Phil’s movements, tilting his head, his hand on Phil’s neck playing with his short hair.

Dan was so high off everything, his senses both heightened and dulled the other moment, the taste of Phil filling his mouth. He leaned backwards, Phil following, his back bending and bit Phil’s lower lip gently, chuckling into his mouth. The Hubot opened his mouth slightly, letting Dan’s tongue slide in. In return he gently trapped it between his teeth and as Dan tried to pull on it, Phil wouldn’t let him. Pulling harder on Phil’s hair made Phil laugh, which Dan took as hi chance to properly make out with him, the hands on his back rubbing up and down, making the hair’s on Dan’s name raise.

He straightened up and Phil immediately pressed Dan into the wall, deepening the kiss even more. The human felt his lungs starting to complain and he pulled on Phil’s hair again, separating their mouths, but as soon as he let go Phil latched onto Dan’s neck, sliding his tongue over his vein, biting into the skin very lightly, teasing him.

“Fuck, Phil,” Dan breathed into the air, his face tilted upwards, hand on Phil’s head, patting him and holding him closer.

He felt his shirt being raised as the two warm hands started roaming across his chest and against his sides and Dan pushed his hips forwards into Phil’s. Phil pressed back and Dan moaned, biting his own lip to keep the sounds out.

“Move,” Dan almost growled in Phil’s ear and he chuckled in response, then two hands slid down to Dan’s ass, squeezing before lifting him from the ground, Dan’s legs sneaking around Phil’s hips, moving against him and meeting his lips again. Phil turned them around and stared walking in the direction of Dan’s bedroom, stopping once to press him against a wall and push him further up his body, Dan’s hands now roaming Phil’s back, grabbing and tearing at his shirt, wanting it off now.

“Be patient,” Phil demanded and Dan felt something turn inside him.

Phil dropped him on the bed, a little rough in his moves, and stood there, watching Dan gasp and stare up at Phil, his hair messy and cheeks red.

Phil was quiet.

The world was quiet.

“I want you,” Dan murmured, pushing himself up on his elbows, eyes meeting Phil’s dark ones.

“Oh, do you now?” Phil grinned, still standing in place. Dan narrowed his eyes, staring Phil down. He sat up and reached for Phil’s shirt, grabbing his collar and pulling the man down with him, Phil placing one leg between Dan’s knees and the other outside his left.

He followed Dan down to the pillow again and pushed their lips together, one hand climbing to his hair, gripping at it and the other sneaking in under Dan’s shirt again, stroking up and down his side, fingers stopping against Dan’s ribs, carefully following the bones. Dan opened his eyes and watched Phil’s expression, the moment was already intimate, but Phil exploring him like this, like Dan as a human, was different.

“Off,” Dan said this time, pulling on Phil’s shirt again. Phil pulled his arms up and back over his shoulders, pulling the shirt over his head and Dan leaned forwards, pushing his mouth again Phil’s shoulder, he felt so human, but at the same time not. Phil’s hand sneaked down to Dan’s pants, palming him through his jeans and Dan bit down on Phil’s skin, shutting his eyes closed as he tried to keep his moans down.

“I hope your skin is non-toxic,” Dan said, half joking, half actually worried. Phil chuckled above him and placed one, two, tree soft kisses on his ear, cheek and dimple.

“Who knows,” he said, his voice rough and low and Dan felt blood rush towards his lower parts, which Phil was paying a lot attention to with his hand.

“Your turn,” he continued, grabbing the edges of Dan’s shirt. The human sat up slightly and held up his arms as Phil removed his shirt, sneaking them over his shoulders when the fabric was thrown far away from existence, off the bed, as he fell down into the covers again.

Phil smiled at him in the low light, Dan noticing his bed lamp had turned on at some point, a soft yellow glow filling the room. Phil went back to placing butterfly kisses as over Dan’s neck, following an invisible trail down to his chest. Dan tied his two hands, letting his head fall into his pillow, placing his hands on his forehead as he closed his eyes. Phil continued downwards, over Dan’s belly, hands caressing his sides, carefully so Dan wouldn’t start laughing from being tickled, and down his happy trail.

“Shit,” Dan cursed as Phil’s mouth pressed against Dan’s now too tight jeans, mouthing over the existing bulge there, making a mess of the human under him.

“Language,” Phil teased and Dan wanted to kick him, but he simply couldn’t, he was too into Phil’s hypnosis. He concentrated on breathing as Phil pulled his zipper down with his teeth, Dan raised his head, took one look and Phil’s eyes was piercing in the dark, staring up at Dan.

“Holy f-“ Dan moaned as Phil pressed his tongue against Dan’s underwear, his hands grabbing at his pants and briefs, pulling downwards. Dan shut his eyes again as he raised his hips, feeling the cold air meeting his cock and legs as his last clothes were thrown away as well. A hand grabbed around the base and suddenly warmth and wetness surrounded Dan’s disco stick.

“Phil,” he moaned and one hands slid down from his forehead to Phil’s mess of hair, grabbing it and toying with it as Phil went down on Dan, making a mess of his human. His eyes had started to water slightly and Dan gazed upwards at the ceiling, too scared to look down. It was all so overwhelming, he hadn’t been with anyone in months and all rumors were true, the Hubots were amazing in bed, and Dan had just gotten started with his Sexbot. He grimaced at his own thought, shaking his head. He felt Phil slow down and after collecting his mind slightly, he pushed himself up on his elbows again.

“I’m not forcing you into anything, right?” he threw out, trying to calm down at the sight before him, Dan’s cock hidden inside Phil’s mouth, the Hubot looking up at him. He sucked Dan off, a short, quiet slurping sound as he turned his head up.

“What? Of course not,” Phil said, his hand still gripping Dan’s dick. Dan stayed in place, still panting.

“Like, you want this, right?”

Phil then understood, it seemed like, as he gave Dan a knowing smile. He dropped his dick and climbed up to press his lips against Dan’s mouth, one hand gently caressing his cheek. He pulled lightly on his lip, then moved his tongue inside, slightly twirling with Dan’s. After a moment he leaned backwards, the most beautiful smile Dan had ever seen plastered on his face, his black hair falling down his face.

“I want nothing else, Daniel. Not because I’m programed to please you, but because I genuinely like you. I still don’t get it, but I somehow like you. A lot. And I want to make you happy, I want you to feel good. Hell, I might even want this more than you and I’m the one who’s not supposed to _want_ ,” Phil breathed and Dan stared up at him, lips still slightly opened from the kiss, it wasn’t too rough or lustful and it wasn’t too soft or shy. It was intimate, it was warm and it made Dan’s heart skip a beat only to start beating furiously again as he stared up into blue, oh so blue eyes.

“I think I love you, and I just met you,” Dan whispered against Phil’s lips, kissing him again. Phil chuckled above him and his hand started moving on Dan downstairs again. Dan had to moan and gasp again and Phil let go of his mouth, starting to lick and bite on his throat again, making Dan a writhing mess on his own bed.

“Fuck. I want you to fuck me, Phil,” Dan said, suddenly sitting up and pushing against Phil, his knees supporting him on the bed, hands clasping at Phil’s, wrestling against him.

“Then stop struggling,” Phil said against Dan’s lips, pushing him backwards and into the bed, falling down on him this time. He pushed his clothed hips against Dan’s bare one’s and the human ground his back up.

“I want these off, now, or I’m gonna command you to remove them,” he threatened and Phil smirked, his tongue poking out between his teeth, mocking Dan with his ‘oh really’ face. Dan wanted to accept the challenge and opened his mouth to say the word, try it on his lips.

“Com-“ but he was interrupted by Phil’s lips on his, pressing hard against his. The man above him struggled out of his own clothes, but then Dan heard the sound of clothes hitting the ground and he curiously peeked his eyes open and looked down at Phil. And he looked…

“Not that big,” Dan mumbled and Phil stilled above him. Dan turned his face upwards at an almost glaring Phil. Dan stared to laugh at his face and his reaction.

“I didn’t mean like that, Phil. I just meant I was expecting something out of the ordinary. Sorry if I hurt your feelings,” he laughed and leaned up to kiss him, but couldn’t stop giggling.

“Oh, don’t worry Dan,” Phil said above him, the tone of his voice changed and Dan opened his eyes to look at him. Phil was smirking.

“I can get as big,” he dragged out on the word,” as you want me to,” he grinned and Dan’s smile dropped.

“Uhm.” Dan pressed his hands against Phil’s chest, looking to the side. It was Phil’s time to chuckle above him, pressing his nose against Dan’s cheek.

“Hey,” he whispered and Dan turned back, getting his lips caught by Phil’s again in a gentle kiss. Dan was lost in the moment, forgetting about everything as he just wanted to keep letting his lips and tongue dance with Phil’s to the music of their heave breaths. But his dick was begging for attention, it wasn’t enough just grinding his hips into Phil’s.

Dan pushed both of them upwards, trying to continue the now messy kiss as Dan searched through his night stand table’s drawer, finding the bottle of lube after way to long. His other wrist was grabbed by Phil and his watch was removed and threw onto the floor, probably landing in the pile of clothes as Dan didn’t hear the sound of it landing. He opened the cap as the kiss kept on, Dan’s breathing getting heavier. But before he had time to pour out the content in his hand Phil grabbed the bottle and resumed to Dan’s neck, not needing to breath as Dan did. He resumed biting and sucking on a spot he had earlier, Dan felt his skin sting and tingle at the same time as Phil probably created a hickey on his collar.

Suddenly two hands pressed against Dan’s thighs, pushing them apart as Phil crawled closer up between them, his knees holding Dan’s legs out. One of Phil’s hands, both previously placed on Dan’s shoulders, slid down over his chest, over his belly and down his thigh, pressing against the space of skin under Dan’s nuts and above his hole, before sliding downwards, teasing around the rim. Both hands were removed from Dan and he opened his eyes to watch Phil pour a small amount from the bottle into his hand, dropping it onto the bed beside him and rubbed his hands together, warming the lube up.

“Considerate, I like it,” Dan laughed and spread his legs wider, Phil crawling up closer before he grabbed one hand around Dan’s cock again, starting to pump it.

 

“Mhmm, more,” Dan said, his chest raising from the bed as Phil places one finger against Dan’s entrance, running along the edge before pressing forwards, moving it inside. Dan tried to relax; it had been more than two years since he bottomed with a man and though he knew the rules, he was rusty.

“Relax,” Phil whispered above him, the finger inside twisting around and a second just teasing against the rim.

“I know,” Dan said, a bit annoyed but kept his eyes closed, concentrating. After a while Phil pushed a second finger inside and Dan was starting to feel the familiar, hot sensation of being fingered. He lifted his lips for Phil to go faster and a bit harder, and the man above him did not disappoint. He started winding and bending his fingers inside, getting a third one just inside, then out again and started a steady rhythm, pushing in and out of Dan.

The human started thrusting his hips with the movement, trying to push down on the fingers and grind his hips into something at the same time, as Phil’s hand on Dan’s dick was gone, distracted to caress his hips.

“Phil,” Dan whined when he wanted something longer inside him to hit the spot, something he knew Phil had.

“Yes, dear,” Phil asked above him, but already settling in position above Dan.

“Make love to me,” Dan said, meeting Phil’s eyes. This wasn’t just a one time, a fuck fuck or buddy shag, this was something more personal and Dan didn’t want to ruin it with growling ‘fuck my ass till’ I can’t walk’.

“Well I guess I could,” Phil smiled above him and Dan felt something different press against his entrance, bigger than a finger, then two or three fingers.

His hands grabbed Phil’s arms which were supporting his weight, leaning over Dan’s body. Slowly sliding inside he watched Dan’s face all the time, registering his emotions. Once inside he slowly slid out, only to push back in a again, all in a slow pace. Dan had his eyes shut in the bliss, the slight displeasure and desire at the same time, making things turn in his stomach and his breath to hitch. His hands slowly loosened their hard grips and Phil picked up his speed, but gently at that.

“More,” Dan repeated and slid his arms over Phil’s neck, crossing his wrists behind his head. His eyes gradually flickered open, gaze meeting Phil’s. Dan was starting to lazily bounce up and down as Phil put more force and speed into his moves, now bucking his hips against Dan, properly fucking him.

“Ahh,” Dan kept going, throwing his head back again as he was enjoying the sensation, one of Phil’s hand’s moving from his hips to start jacking Dan off again.

Dan’s finger caught on the sticker on Phil’s neck and he fiddled with it, still moving a little too much to catch it, but after a while he caught it between two fingers, ripping it off. Phil leaned over Dan, pressing Dan’s legs even further back, the sounds of skin slapping against skin getting louder in the room. Dan moved his finger against the metallic edge, pressing lightly into it and Phil pushed harder into Dan.

“Phil, Phil,” Dan mumbled.

“Yeah?” Phil breathily replied against Dan’s forehead, his lips meeting his skin and kissing him there twice as he kept pounding into him.

“I’m, I’m there,” he gasped and Phil picked up his speed even more, this was only something a very well built person would be able to hold, or someone like Phil.

“Shit,” Dan almost screamed, “you’re like a fucking vibrator.” Phil laughed above him as he kept going, pushing on Dan’s legs and pulling on his dick.

Dan felt his hips snap into Phil’s fist, once, twice, three times and then he saw white, staring up into his dark ceiling his mind disappeared somewhere else and everything felt good, he felt high, so, so high. Dan was completely gone, writhing in the bliss under Phil who gradually slowed down, pushing inside Dan with hard, slow thrusts.

Dan breathed out as he fell back into reality and stared at Phil in awe as his breathing slowed down. And soon Phil was barely moving, just hovering over Dan, searching his eyes as well. There were distant sounds of cars honking in the distance and then a woman’s laugh somewhere far off.

Feeling like he should say something, Dan licked his lips and opened them again, but nothing came out. Then Phil gently smiled and leaned down to kiss Dan again, pulling out at the same time. Dan slid a hand up to Phil’s cheek, rubbing his thumb against the soft skin, smiling into the action as his knees slowly slid down the sheets, feeling like he had run a thousand miles.

Oh this was going to hurt tomorrow.

A familiar feeling filled him as Phil leaned down, lying on Dan as the kiss kept going, Dan tried to figure out what felt weird when he realized what it was. He grabbed Phil’s chin and pushed his head backwards, frowning at the other.

“Did you come inside me?” He asked in almost shock.

“Huh?” Phil asked, his chest moving up and down. Dan pushed him to the side and slipped a hand down to his entrance, feeling around. He felt something warm inside him indeed that definitely wasn’t just the lube.

“What the hell, Phil?” He yelled, still in disbelief. There was a sort of smile falling onto his lips but he was mostly surprised.

“I didn’t know that would happen, I promise, I didn’t read into the actions that much I was so busy watching you,” he said, looking a little embarrassed.

“Don’t you like it?”

“Uh, no, I just wasn’t expecting it. It makes me wonder what you exactly spurted inside me,” he said, drying off his hands on the sheets. Phil leaned up on a hand, sitting up beside Dan.

“It’s just water, like, nothing toxic, don’t worry. It’s not gonna make you pregnant if that’s what you’re wondering,” he added, smiling sheepishly at Dan.

Dan swatted Phil’s shoulder, scoffing; “You dork,” he said, leaning down to give Phil a kiss, sliding down under the duvet, holding it up for Phil to crawl under as well.

“It says here that you can buy a choice of flavor as well, there’s chocolate, vanilla cream, all in the preferable color,” Phil said and Dan beamed, laughing with the Hubot.

“Oh there’s coffee Dan, maybe we should get that?” he said and Dan swatted him again, repeating his insult about Phil being a dork.

He hid his face in the crock on Phil’s neck, smiling into it. The other wrapped the duvets over them and then his arms across Dan’s back, protecting him from the outside world. One gentle kiss on his forehead was the last thing Dan remembered as he fell into a deep, deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, there's a bunch of sex in this one. + This chapter is way longer than the others. 
> 
> I don't want to annoy you but it would be a nice with a comment if you've read the story this far, I want to see how many are keeping up with it. Because I kinda feels like it's just me and the dust bunnies here. 
> 
> Thanks! <3


	6. Early mornings, dark nights

Yawning, he felt himself slowly slip into consciousness, the warmth under the bed comfortable and protecting from the cold air in his room. Dan listened to the sounds of the outside life for a while, birds, cars, people, dogs. There was one sound he couldn’t make out what it was, some sort of buzzing, it felt closer and he had to concentrate to hear it, Dan furrowed his eyebrow before opening his eyes. Blinking, he stared into a familiar, sleeping face. 

Phil was lying opposite of Dan, eyes closed and one arm and leg thrown over Dan, his mouth was closed and he looked so peaceful. He wasn’t moving, breathing like Dan, he was completely still, but as Dan carefully leaned a bit forwards he wondered if the quiet buzzing came from Phil. Slowly moving a bit downwards and then leaning forwards into Phil’s chest, without touching him, Dan could hear the humming, like a very fast fan or some sort of machine vibrating. And the sound came from Phil, just like Dan’s heartbeat could be audible. 

Dan straightened up and smiled, blowing a gust of air into Phil’s face. Nothing happened and Dan tried again, starting to laugh mid-blow as Phil’s hair moved out of his face. Phil’s eyelids flickered for a second before his eyes opened, woken up by Dan’s giggling. 

“Good morning?” Phil asked, looking confused as to why Dan was laughing. 

“Good morning, dear,” Dan replied, smiling as he settled down into his pillow again, feeling like he could just lie in bed all day. Phil’s hand slid down to Dan’s hip, pulling lightly on him, gesturing for Dan to come closer. 

“No, I’m comfortable,” Dan whined, trying to pull Phil closer to him instead by his hands. The robot complied, curling up to Dan, kissing the top of his head and resting his chin there. 

“How are you feeling?” he asked and Dan took the opportunity to push Phil a bit backwards so he could rest his head on his chest. Phil was warm, almost warmer than the bed and Dan loved the element feature. 

“I’m fine, don’t worry. Though we both probably need a shower,” Dan mumbled into Phil’s chest, putting his ear to the artificial skin, listening to the humming of Phil’s engine. 

“Sounds nice,” Phil said, both hands placed at Dan’s shoulder and running downwards slowly, then cupping Dan’s ass, the human snickering at Phil’s moves. 

“Am I your boyfriend now?” Phil asked. 

“I suppose, if you want to. I come with a lot of baggage, you know,” Dan said, placing butterfly kisses on Phil’s skin where he could reach. 

“I think I come with more, Dan,” Phil said in all seriousness and Dan didn’t reply, continuing on his kissing task. 

There they lied in the slow sun waking up London, moving over their bodies until the room was fully lit up, Phil was caressing Dan’s back, pulling his hands up and down and Dan listened to all the sounds Phil’s inside did. 

And it was all so peaceful. 

Suddenly Phil flinched, his entire body momentarily tensing, Dan half sat up, staring at Phil in worry. 

“What happened?” he asked, one hand on Phil’s cheek, directing Phil’s attention to him. 

“Uh, I just got an automatic command, should have seen it coming. Give me a moment, I just have to report back,” he said, pulling Dan down again and holding him in his arms, big spooning him. Dan was a bit annoyed at being manhandled but shut up, waiting for Phil to finish ‘reporting’ whatever that was. He sighed and picked up one of Phil’s hands, examining them, the skin on his palms and fingertips were really smooth but if you pressed down, they were slightly harder than Dan’s. Probably because Phil was stronger and could tolerate more work, he couldn’t have the skin breaking all the time from impact. 

“Sorry,” Phil said after a minute and loosened his hold on Dan, the other rolling over and looking up at Phil, questioning. 

“I’m a trial, Dan, I have to report back actions, problems, trouble shootings and all that. And I also have to remind you to do that, which I’m doing now.”

“Okay, everything is going great. My Hubot’s a bit rude but he’s great in bed so that makes up for it. There you go, my report,” Dan said, hiding in Phil’s neck again, feeling Phil’s body shake with the small laughter. 

“No, you have to email it in, without my surveillance, so you’re gonna have to go incognito on your computer. And there’s a few questions you need to answer,” Dan groaned as a reply and Phil pulled Dan in closer, kissing his head again. 

“When do I have to do this?” he whined into Phil’s neck. 

“Sometime today, maybe they would accept one day’s delay, but only once.”

“I like that you’re not talking about the company as we, but as them, btw. That’s cool of you,” Dan mumbled and Phil hummed a reply. 

“Is that so?” 

 

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

 

“Anybody could be that guy. Night is young and the music's high,” the music beat through the speakers, Dan swinging around in his apron, using the spatula as his microphone. 

“With a bit of rock music, everything is fine. You're in the mood for a dance,” he lip-synced, pointing to Phil who was leaning in the doorway to the living room, watching Dan with an amused face. 

“And when you get the chance,” he singed, mouth moving but voice quiet, grabbing a hold of Phil’s had. 

“You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen,” he brought Phil in, turning around, placing Phil’s hands on his hips, moving with the beat like he was truly a 17 year old girl in a club, getting drunk for the first time. 

“What are you doing,” Phil whispered in Dan’s ears as they swayed their hips together in the music. Time was irrelevant that day, they had spent all moments with each other, staying in bed until Dan’s stomach started to growl in protest. Phil cooked Dan breakfast, they watched the news together and Dan sighed in relief as he saw many protestors last night had been taken into custody and many charged. 

His mood was top all day this far, having too many drinks to his dinner and was now dancing around in the living room. 

“Hey, Dancing Queen, calm down or you’re gonna break a hip or something,” Phil laughed, his hands on Dan’s hips controlling the other, slowing down their movements and sitting Dan down on the couch. Dan got up instead, pulling Phil down to sit just to have another go, kissing him fiercely as the loud music made his heart beat extra fast. 

They had done it once this morning in bed, then had a quickie in the shower and now Dan was riding Phil right on the living room sofa, trying to match his bouncing to the music’s beat. 

“Dan, I don’t want to nag but I kind of have to,” Phil said an hour later when Dan was still sitting in front of the TV, watching some reality show about the hotels on the moon. Phil had been making a quick clean up in the bathroom while Dan relaxed, still fully naked. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m gonna do it,” he said, swatting his hand in the air. Phil moved to stand in front of the TV with his hands on his hips, staring down at the human. 

“I’m serious, I’m kind of being reminded every minute to remind you,” he said and Dan groaned out loud, getting up, fixing his hair with his hand as he walked into his office, picking up his clothes on the way and dressing properly. When he entered the computer was on, the HCDC website up and incognito turned on. Dan felt a little bad for not doing this earlier, it could very well have been interrupting Phil all day. 

He sat down and wrote in his information, logging in and filling out his first report. He had to fill in the response form at first, something he should probably have done earlier. 

“Phil, what’s your serial number?” He yelled and his computer magically opened up an empty text form where a series of number appeared and a smiley at the end. Dan replied with the classic, very mature; eight, three equal signs and then a big D. In just a second, he got a *sigh* written out from Phil. 

He copied the text and placed it in the square, continuing with the other information. After that it was time for the report. Most questions were very simple to respond to, the report had the usual 1-10 of how accurate, but other’s hand boxes where Dan would have to write out a reply. 

When Dan felt satisfied with his answers he sent it and closed the page afterwards, stretching in his chair. The sudden touch to his neck made him jump out of his chair and yell a very manly scream. 

Phil was quick to put a hand on Dan’s mouth, looking apologetic and amused at the same time. Dan took a deep breath after removing Phil’s hand, glaring at the other. 

“What the hell?” Phil just giggled and brought Dan in for a hug, holding him tight and while laughing, apologizing in his ear. 

 

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

 

“Wow, this is so terrible,” Dan said, throwing out his arm towards the screen, gesturing to the bad acting in this particular action movie. 

“I could probably do better,” Phil agreed beside Dan, one hand in Dan’s mess of hair, massaging him. 

“Would you like to be an actor?” He asked Phil after a while of sighing at the actors on screen. He turned to look at the other and the fingers against his head stopped. Dan gave him a knowing look. 

“If you were going to say ‘I already am’ but then changed your mind because you thought you would hurt me, don’t worry. I’m not stupid,” he said and regretted asking the question in the first place. Stupid brain. 

“I’m not though, I’m programmed, that’s different. Plus, as I had to report this morning, I’m running a lot of the software 300, the improvising I do and earlier robots don’t have,” Phil said, looking down to fix his shirt. Dan waited for Phil to continue. 

“It’s why I’m a prototype, they’re curious on how all of this improvising will affect us, as it could also get dangerous. That’s why the trial doesn’t cost anything, you know,” Phil trailed off, biting his lip, an action so very human. 

“This is also a result of the software, that I can even tell you this, something that an earlier made robot wouldn’t be able to do, talk again its company and all,” Phil mumbled and Dan nodded, giving no attention what so ever on the movie anymore. 

“Let’s just hope you don’t go bat-shit one day then,” Dan chuckled, leaning his head against his arm, “and kill me only to run off with toaster.”

“Wasn’t the toaster my child last time?” Phil asked, looking a bit ‘done’ with Dan. 

“Oh yeah, right,” Dan laughed and Phil scoffed, rolling his eyes. 

“Hey, I’m feeling for some chips, do we have any?” he asked as they found another movie to watch, 20 minutes later, one which both seemed interested in. It was getting a bit darker outside but Dan already stood up, ready to go out to fetch some in case Phil said no. And he did, so Dan smiled, pulling him up from the couch as well. 

“You only get active when food’s involved, why is that?” Phil asked behind him as he followed him out into the hallway, both putting on their coats. Dan had fetched his lighter ones from the attic, getting them all down for Phil to try one out as well. 

Dan insisted on Asda this time, as it was just a quick run to the store and Phil shrugged, following him across the street. There were some people speaking loudly on the street, a group of guys slurring and tripping about. Dan and Phil avoided them by picking up their pace, walking past them quickly. They entered the store and Phil waved the an employee who did not wave back, looking a bit pissed as she cleaned something up from the floor. 

“Don’t even try,” Dan chuckled to Phil when they were out of her hearing distance. He headed towards the crisps and chips shelves, picking out two bags and a soda on the way. Phil reminded him they were almost out of milk and the fetched two packages of that too. 

“That was the only reason you were okay with this, wasn’t it?” Dan laughed and Phil smiled innocently, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

They paid for their items to the robot check out and Dan chuckled, leaned back and elbowed Phil. 

“He looks kinda hot, doesn’t he,” gesturing to the blue, old robot who stood there in place, waiting for Dan to pay. 

“How would you feel if I implied you found everything with a beating heart hot. Like, ‘yeah Dan, look at that dog, wouldn’t you want to put your di-“

Dan quickly interrupted him by put his hand on Phil’s mouth, laughing. 

“Okay, shut up already,” he said as he took the receipt from the robot’s outstretched hand. Phil bagged the things as the robot in front of them seemed unable to do so and they left after that. 

Just outside the group of loud teenagers had gathered, two guys joking loudly with someone who didn’t find it funny. Dan made out an older lady trying to get through but one guy was blocking her way, holding some sort of knife in his hand. 

“Give us your money or I stab you, granny, but don’t worry, I’m only joking” he yelled and his friend laughed. The old lady looked clearly scared by now and before Dan had time to react he saw someone move in the corner of his eye. Phil was suddenly right in the middle of the group, grabbing the arm of the guy with the bottle, saying something to him. 

“Get off me,” the guy screamed in defense and suddenly he raised his bottle against Phil. The old lady stumbled to the side and fell to the ground and Dan called for help, running forwards to prevent anyone from getting hurt. He got a grip of someone’s arm but soon felt a piercing pain in his left arm as something sharp slashed him. Then Phil moved quickly, too quickly for the humans to catch up. Dan’s head was spinning but soon he saw that the most violent boy, the one with the bottle, was on the ground with his hands behind his back, Phil’s foot holding him in place. He had grabbed the other one, holding him with his hands behind his back as well, just like a cop. Dan breathed out and saw the employers of the store run to the old lady’s assistance. Suddenly a cop car pulled over and two police men stepped outside, looking a bit confused at the scene in front of them. The rest of the group of boys stayed put as commanded and one of the policemen went up to Phil, watching him while Phil stepped back, letting the cops take over. 

“Are you registered,” one of the cops asked Phil, as the now cuffed two boys were put against the police car, the blue and red lights flashing around the place. Dan hadn’t even heard them coming. 

Phil nodded and the cop went to fetch something inside his car, a tablet of some sort connected to a cord. 

“Command: Lean over,” the police man said and Phil did so the next second, leaning forwards as if he was bowing, and the policeman removed his gloves to easier handle the USB cord, plugging it into Phil with ease. Dan stood there, gaping as he still was a bit overwhelmed. While the screen seemed to load for the cop, he looked at Dan, looking at his arm. 

“Are you fine, sir? Do you want us to call you an ambulance?” Dan didn’t register he was talking to him at first before he looked down at his arm, watching the cut now spilling blood. It didn’t hurt that much though. 

“Uh, not it’s fine. What are you doing to him?” He asked, watching as Phil straightened up, watching the third cop, which just arrived, talk to the old lady. 

“Just checking that’s he’s registered sir, nothing else, don’t worry,” he said, looking down at the screen which beeped. 

“Thanks,” he said to Phil who nodded. 

“Do you want me to send you the footage?” Phil asked and the cop looked surprised but then chuckled. 

“Yeah, sure, man. You’re making work way easier for us on this one.”   
The third cop came over to talk to Dan while Phil’s cop talked to him, asking the regulars; what happened, who did you see doing what, etc. 

When Dan was done the screen beeped again. Phil’s cop pressed around on the tablet before grinning again, smacking Phil’s shoulder; “Thanks, man,” he said and removed the USB cord from Phil’s neck. 

“You two go take care of that now,” he said, gesturing to Dan’s arm. 

“We really appreciate your help tonight, things could have gotten ugly. Luckily you handled the situation just fine,” he said talking mostly to Phil. Dan went over to pick up his bag on the chips, holding the cloth he got from the third cop against his cut, the pain finally hitting him. It wasn’t that bad, Dan just really wanted to get home. 

“Are you okay?” Phil asked as they started walking towards the apartment, Dan simply nodding. He was still in a bit of shock at how things escalated so quickly and kept quiet for their walk home, waiting for Phil to open the doors and press the elevator buttons. Dan was tired, and a bit overwhelmed, but now as he got into his apartment his arm hurt the most. 

He went into the bathroom to clean it up, not stopping to remove his jacket or shoes. Pouring water on it did mostly hurt but was necessary. 

“Do you want me to help?” Phil asked from the door and Dan met his eyes, noticing the worry. 

“Yes, please,” he struggled to roll up his sleeve further and Phil gestured for Dan to follow him as he grabbed the first aid box Dan had under the sink. He sat Dan down on his bed, slowly helping him out of his broken jacket and shirt underneath. 

“God damn it,” Dan glared at the two pieces on the bed as Phil dug through the box, sitting on his knees on the floor in front of Dan.

“We can fix those later, let’s focus on this now,” he said and gently grabbed Dan’s wrist to straighten his arm out. He took out the alcohol rub and poured some on a cotton piece, Dan squeezed his face together as he prepared himself for the pain, grunting as Phil, as gently as possible, cleaned the cut. The he quickly dried it off with a towel and put a large band aid on, putting tape around it and a second layer of bandage to keep it safe. 

Dan realized, as he watched, that Phil only used his left hand, which he usually didn’t. His right hand, which was holding Dan’s wrist, was shaking from time to time, and Dan, figuring out something was wrong unbuttoned Phil’s jacket and pulling down his shirt. Phil had sighed, eyes on the ground as if he had been caught. There, on his collar bone one dot was shining brightly red. Dan raised his eyes to Phil’s, trying to get eye contact but Phil kept his eyes to the floor. 

“Where are you hurt?” 

“I’m fine,” Phil mumbled. 

“Where are you hurt, Phil?” Dan repeated, clearly not amused. 

“Don’t worry about it-“

“Command: Show me where you’re hurt,” Dan said, his voice almost shaking. It was the first time he used Command, but since he watched the cop do it, he thought it wouldn’t be that bad after all. 

Now Phil pretty much glared up at Dan while sliding out of his jacket, then holding up his arm. He kept his t-shirt on as his cuts, three on his arm as well, were lower than the shoulder. They were bigger than Dan’s but one seemed to only grace the skin as a white line was under the other two. The one right under his elbow pit was the widest and Dan gasped as he turned Phil’s arm around to look at it. 

“It doesn’t hurt Dan, remember that. Don’t worry,” Phil said as Dan got down on the floor in front of Phil, both now kneeling. 

He gently pushed his fingers to the scar, being able to push the artificial skin apart. Underneath was... 

“metal,” Dan mumbled as he examined Phil’s injury. From what he saw there was metal running down his arm, just like a bone. Around it spiraled different cords, many, many cords in different colors, and Dan was so fascinated. He looked up and into Phil’s face, making sure this was real.

“I’m sorry but this is so cool,” Dan whispered and Phil chuckled into the awkward silence, making things better instantly. Dan continued to carefully inspect what he could see of the inside of Phil’s arm before realizing he was spending too much time on this. 

“Uh, okay, serious business. There’s two cords that are broken, one in two places but I’m sure I could fuse them together, for a temporary solution,” he said and waited for Phil’s approval. The Hubot nodded and Dan went up to fetch two small, metal tweezers. 

“I don’t want you to give me a high voltage shock, can you turn your right arm offline or something,” Dan asked and Phil nodded, suddenly his arm going limp. It was a lot heavier for Dan to hold up and he ended propping it up on a pillow. He spun the small metal strings inside the colorful cords together at all three places, then asked Phil how it felt. 

The Hubot stretched the arm out, bending it and wiggling his fingers. 

“Honestly, I think you’d do just a good job as my mechanic would do. I just need to go in for patching up my skin now, which a sticker can cover in the meantime,” Phil mumbled and Dan smiled. 

“I’m impressed, Dan,” he said and leaned down to give him a soft kiss. 

“We fix each other up,” Dan whispered into Phil’s mouth and the black haired man agreed, holding Dan closer. 

The bag of chips lied abandoned on the hallway floor as Phil and Dan rolled around on the bedroom floor, in their own little world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, thank you all so much for the nice comments. It's what keeps me writing this story.


	7. Dust and tiles

Dan sat by his table, holding his cup of coffee in both hands, looking out his window. He heard some shuffling behind him and turned around, watching Phil walking in, his hair standing in all directions. 

“Why didn’t you wake me?” he asked and slumped down opposite of Dan and the human chuckled while he leaned forwards to fix Phil’s hair. 

Dan simply shrugged to the question, taking a sip of his warm drink. Phil looked a bit slow, his eyelids not fully open and eyes motionless, like he was… loading up. 

“Dude, you look hangover. Did you just boot up or something?” 

“I shut off in the middle of the night, yeah. I forgot to charge yesterday s I’m running on the extras now,” Phil said, sitting like frozen in his seat, except his mouth moving. For someone who hadn’t lived with a Hubot for more than a month, like Dan, would probably be pretty creeped out. 

“Why don’t you charge while in bed?” Dan asked, rubbing his forehead, this morning being especially hard on him. He had a bad head ache starting at the back of his head and Dan guessed he would need to take a pain killer shot later. 

It was Phil’s time to shrug and Dan tilted his head, questioning. Phil probably played it off as ‘still booting’, same as ‘I just woke up’ but Dan didn’t buy it. He got up to put his cup in the washer and walked over to Phil, pushing his chair out. Phil was about to stand up but Dan simply lifted his leg over the other and sat down in his lap, facing Phil. 

“Hey,” he said, sneaking his arms around Phil’s neck, keeping them hanging over his shoulders, smiling at Phil. 

“Hi,” Phil mumbled and Dan leaned down and gave him a soft peck. One on the tip of his nose, one on the forehead. 

“Tell me,” Dan said gently, placing one small kiss on Phil’s right cheek and earlobe. 

“You could get caught in the cord, as much as you’re flailing at night, and maybe get strangled to-“ But Phil didn’t finish as Dan’s laughter interrupted him. The Hubot kept his eyes down, looking rather embarrassed and it just made Dan laugh more. 

“You make my day, Phil. Do you know that? Every single day,” he laughed and leaned down to meet Phil’s lips, bringing the other’s face up as Phil followed Dan’s lips. 

“If you’re worried about being ‘robot’ around me, honey, don’t worry. I know your secret,” Dan winked and Phil groaned; “Why do you have to be so hard sometimes.”

“-and if you say that’s what she said-“

“-I wasn’t gonna,” Dan winked again and Phil gave him the ironic ‘oh really?’–look, making Dan chuckle again. 

“No, but seriously, I don’t mind your cords and your radioactivity, Phil. It’s what makes you, you. I especially love one of your cords-“

“When will you stop being so childish,” Phil sighed at the grinning Dan again, “and why are you so chipper? It’s Monday, you’re supposed to hate Mondays,” Phil said, bouncing his legs once making Dan bounce as well. 

“Work doesn’t start until 12 today and ends at 17, first Monday each month is like this for me, apart from last one as one of my colleagues was sick. So I’m gonna enjoy me some,” Dan faked thinking hard, humming and tapping a finger against his chin, “hmm, maybe some Phil-time?” 

“Sounds good to me,” Phil said, beaming back at the other, arms sneaking around Dan’s back. 

“We’re so fucking lame I want to throw up,” Dan smiled and Phil scoffed, one hand now in Dan’s hair, bringing him down to his lips with a bit of more force. 

 

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

“Did you read about the thing that happened in R.N.E? The country is already shaking since the last election, and now this terrorist attack,” Dan said, flipping through the news on his laptop. Phil looked up from Dan’s phone, playing some car game and shook his head. 

“There was a shooting in R15S, I don’t recognize that town, it says it’s pretty small,” Dan kept on reading, even though Phil had probably already read 50 articles about the thing in less than 5 seconds. 

“What was the cause? Of the shooting?” Phil asked and Dan appreciated Phil giving the slow human a chance to be the one telling the information for once. 

“Another gang-thing I think, yeah, the old Russians and the newer groups of RNEs, it’s sad to read they’re all so young. Imagine if that happened here in Europe,” Dan mumbled and Phil nodded, keeping his game paused and attention on Dan. 

“We had a lot of these in the start of the joining of Europe too, I guess it’s impossible to imagine what it was like, living in ‘England’ and being joined with all these other Historical regions, then called countries.”

“But it turned out good,” Phil said, straightening out the blanket which was thrown over the sofa. 

“After time, yes, but I would not want to have lived way back then,” he said, almost shivering at the thought. 

“You humans are weird,” Phil said after a few minutes of silence, continuing on his car game while Dan resumed reading the latest news. The human chuckled from the other side of the couch. 

“You can’t say that when you’re the minority, Phil.”

“There are more machines and robots than humans, no I’m technically not a minority on this planet,” Phil corrected Dan, still not pausing his game. One of the things Dan was really envious of Phil because was his ability to multitask. 

“Okay, one; So you call yourself and a washing machine equal? Two; If that’s how we count it I’m an animal, and there are more animals than robots out there, cause ‘technically’ insects, birds and water animals are birds too then,” Dan said, mocking Phil who just shrugged. 

“What I mean with weird is how you can kill your own species. I know those who do usually have some sort of disorder, but to kill someone and not feel regret or guilt, it’s scary and hard for me to understand,” Phil mumbled, Dan looking over to see Phil holding the paused game, eyes looking somewhere else. 

“I agree with you, at the same time as we’re more… free-thinking than you, it’s dangerous too. But taking away that freedom to be as you are, is taking away humanity’s best trait,” Dan said, stretching his toes and wiggling them, Phil nodding opposite of him. 

“You’re not allowed to kill, right? Or hurt anyone?” Dan asked, watching Phil’s face for a reaction, placing his laptop on the table and closing it.

“Nope, not even with command or self-defense, for the killing part that is.”

“But are you able to? That’s different than being allowed,” Dan said, picking up a pillow and hugging it, his feet pressing against Phil’s thigh. 

“Not with the firewalls I have, plus they’re not removable. From what I know, if you try to remove those or in some way succeed, I stop working. It’s a safety precaution which I think is good, because I could probably do some fucked up things if allowed,” Phil said, still not meeting Dan’s eyes. He looked a little unsure and Dan tapped him twice with his foot, not getting a reply. Instead Dan used more force and kicked him, getting Phil to turn his head. 

“What?”

“Don’t worry, I aint gonna make you my personal assassin,” Dan said, throwing the pillow up into the air and catching it. 

 

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

 

The alarm clock on his bedside table read 03:46 and Dan couldn’t do anything other than stare at the letters. They seemed to sort of ‘scream’ in the silence of the pitch, black darkness in the room. Dan’s head was resting on the pillow, hands underneath, his back towards Phil, but he didn’t feel tired. Too much thoughts were spinning around in his head and Dan felt the depression cloud over him, he didn’t want to have to think this much, he had been suffering heavy headaches for days now. He took a deep sigh, startled when he heard his own voice break, it sounded like a cry. Phil moved beside him and Dan froze, hiding his face in the pillow to dry of the tears before sitting up. 

“Are you okay?” Phil asked and Dan nodded, waving his hand in the air as saying ‘I’m fine’. He didn’t trust his voice and simply stood up, making his way towards the door. He heard the bed shuffle behind him and Dan cursed inside his mind. 

“I’m going to the bathroom, stay,” he said, trying to sound as collected as possible. 

“Dan, what is it?” Phil said, ignoring Dan’s bad lie. He heard the sound of Phil’s charger plug being pulled out from the wall and Dan picked up his speed. 

“Leave me alone,” he said but Phil was quick to catch up, turning Dan around with a hand on his shoulder. 

“Dan,” Phil said, his voice powerful in the night. Dan stared at the other, both only dressed in underwear and baggy t-shirts. The moon light from the window made Phil look ghostly as he stood still like a statue. Like a robot. 

“I told you to leave me alone, give me some privacy,” Dan said, getting up close to glare at Phil. He was seriously pissed off and he could feel the familiar tension in the air, just like way back in school before a first fight would erupt. He didn’t let his eyes drop from Phil’s, but the other just looked confused. 

“Talk to me,” Phil said and Dan groaned. 

“Just let me go to the bathroom,” but before Dan could finish the sentence two hands were grabbing at Dan’s shoulders. 

“No,” Phil said, worriedly shaking his head, “I think you should calm down.”

“What the fuck do you think I’m gonna do? I’m gonna take a piss,” Dan replied, trying to throw Phil’s hands off but he was way too powerful. Phil didn’t say anything, he kept looking at Dan like he was a ghost or something and something just clicked in Dan’s head. 

“Do you think I’m going to hurt myself?” He almost screamed in Phil’s face and the Hubot blinked, like the sound waves hit him like a wind. He didn’t reply but the look gave it all away. 

“Get off me!” Dan yelled, trying to yank Phil off, hitting his leg against the living room couch in the motion and cursing. 

Phil had never severely scared Dan, this was the first time, 2 months of knowing each other and Dan was fearing for his life. Was Phil broken? Would he break Dan’s bones? His grip was so tight Dan felt the pain in his shoulders get worse and worse. The expression on Phil’s face was mostly fear and worry but something unreadable also. 

Dan’s reflexes thought of a way out and he went in for the hit, one hand slapping against Phil’s side, finding the off button in just a second. Phil barely had time to react, his hands dropped and the last emotion Dan saw was Phil’s gaping mouth and the expressions of feeling betrayed flashed on his face. Dan was suddenly overwhelmed with Phil’s slumping weigh and he, as quickly and carefully as possible laid Phil down on the floor, almost falling over him. 

Dan took a step back, breathing heavily from all the moving, struggling and now adrenaline. The room was just as dark before but Dan’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he slumped down in one of his arm chairs, staring at Phil before closing his eyes, a hand covering his face. 

Spurting up, Dan made his way towards the bathroom, feeling the panic inside him beat louder and louder each second, he wanted to cry, he wanted to scream and take his frustration out on something. He just did on Phil and it ended horribly. 

When he entered the bathroom he slapped the bottle that was standing that off the cupboard, gritting his teeth together. Sitting down on the floor in the corner, Dan gripped his hair, cursing and crying. 

Everything was because of Phil, everything. He had been fine without Phil, before he came, and now he was a total mess. Phil was horrible, because he had kicked Dan out of his comfort zone with rules and logic and boring everydays. 

Dan kept questioning falling for Phil, he wished he hadn’t, even though he loved him. One second he was incredibly happy with and around Phil but the next he wanted to just return the robot so he could get on with his life. There were so many problems that arose when he got Phil, sure, there were some amazing times. But Dan didn’t like handling uncomfortable things, he just wanted everything to be like it was. 

Phil was sweet, Phil was beautiful, funny and practically perfect. And for a reason, he was a product. He was made to make Dan want him, to spend money on him, it couldn’t be true love. Phil was a robot for Mother Nature’s sake, he wasn’t able to actually love Dan. He was able to act like it, to make miserable fucks like Dan spend more time into him. Phil was supposed to act like Dan pleased, and he always did. He was way to perfect. 

His eyelashes fluttered and slowly Dan opened his eyes. His back hurt, his face hurt and his head hurt. Everything hurt, but especially his leg. 

Oh yeah, he hit it last night. 

They had a fight. 

Dan’s eyes fixated on the white tiles in front of him, his bathroom was tilted 90 degrees and the morning light was filling his apartment. Dan didn’t have his clock or phone on him. 

He was too tired to even think, he simply didn’t bother. 

Getting up from the floor everything that previously hurt suddenly hurt twice as bad. 

Groaning as he made his way out from his bathroom he stepped into the hallway and then the living room, he could see Phil’s legs lying on the floor behind the arm chair from where he stood. He took a deep breath and turned to the kitchen, turning on the coffee maker and opening the cupboard to take out a mug. Pushing one aside to grab the one behind he accidently pushed one over the edge and onto the floor, watching with too slow reflexes as it hit the floor and scattered into a million pieces. 

Dan stood there, blinking at the now broken cup, eye’s half lidded. He knew it was his Friday off, he simply didn’t have to care about the time at the moment. He ignored the broken cup, getting his coffee into a cup and went back into the living room. Sitting down on the couch, rubbing his hands together and sipping on his coffee, seeing Phil’s body’s reflection in the turned off TV screen in front of him. 

After sighing, weighing decisions back and forth, he put down the cup and squatted down next to Phil’s body. He took a moment to fix Phil’s shirt, moving his head slightly so he didn’t look as… dead, just sleeping. 

Sneaking one hand under Phil’s arm, he found the button and pressed it once, hearing the familiar beeping. He had never done a quick shut off on Phil and didn’t know how long the booting time was this time, when he actually turned off properly it just took him a moment to wake up but Dan figured this would take a little longer. 

He got up to fetch his coffee, bringing it with him to sit cross-legged in front of Phil on the floor, a bit away incase Phil started flailing or something. 

It took a while indeed, first the 3 dots on his collarbone started lighting up, flashing white and Dan sat there, sipping his coffee. After at least two minutes the flashing stopped and there was another beep. Phil’s face, Dan discover, looked annoyed, eyes still closed. Dan wanted to wait, to be patient but after another minute he couldn’t keep himself from whispering;

“Phil?”

There was a sigh coming from Phil and slowly the Hubot sat up, opening his eyes and turning to Dan, looking like tired and like he had been through something horrible. The glaring made Dan’s stomach hurt but he kept his eyes meeting Phil’s. 

“Do you want me to apologize?” Dan asked after a while, his coffee cup now placed on the floor beside him. Phil continued to stare at Dan, clearly looking disappointed. 

“I doubt you would,” Phil said, words stiff. 

“I overreacted, okay? But I-I-“ Dan broke off, staring at his hands in his lap, one hand twisting the non-existing ring on his other hand’s ring-finger.

“I panicked, okay?” he finished, pleading to Phil. The robot still looked unimpressed with him, but then he turned away, leaving Dan staring helplessly at him. 

“Please don’t do it again, it doesn’t solve anything,” Phil whispered and it was Dan’s time to furrow his eyebrows. 

“You were hurting me, Phil. I may have been the dick in the end but you seriously scared me,” he said, one finger pointing at the other, moving with the words. 

“I don’t know what happened, I activated… I went into some sort of emergency state, as if you were- were going to do something stupid-“

“-Suicidal, right?” Dan interrupted Phil and the Hubot flinched at the words but nodded. There was silence filling up the room for a while, Dan sighing after a while.

“I’m disappointed that you thought of me so lowly, I wouldn’t do something like that. I may be pretty depressed at times but I would never take it that far. Okay? You need to trust me, Phil,” Dan said and Phil, his head still hung low, nodded as an obedient child. 

“Okay, let’s do this,” Dan said as he shuffled closer to Phil on the floor. 

“I promise to not deactivate you off like that again if you promise to have more faith in me, and I don’t want you to hold me in place like that again, okay? Is that a deal?” He offered his hand and Phil stared at it before giving Dan a second look, then taking his hand. 

“Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shortest chapter this far, woops sorry. I'm working all the fucking time now and time for writing this is getting limited. But I'll do my best to keep writing this story!
> 
> Thank's for all the wonderful comments, it's you who keep me motivated to keep this story alive.


	8. Till Then

Dan collected the two bags in his left hand, looking around at the people. Phil stood beside him, his shoulder touching Dan’s and his face was just as confused as Dan’s, wondering what he was supposed to do. 

“Okay, so can I have you two over here? Like, yeah, if you put your arm around his shoulders,” the woman with the big phone and glasses on said, gesturing the woman and man, probably in their 40s, to stand with the green screen behind them. Her heels were loud against the floor and he pants seemed to be sat a bit too low, Dan raised his eyebrows as he could clearly see a piece of orange lace peek from beneath her pants as she leaned forwards to put on of the kids in a position. 

The cameraman was looking awkwardly at his camera, pressing around on buttons and Dan figured he wasn’t actually doing anything, maybe first day at the job. 

“You two, we’re thinking of putting you here on the bench, yeah exactly, it’ll look great,” she said, loudly chewing her gum and Dan thought about how much he resented these business people with their loud shoes, loud chewing and loud talking. 

Dan and Phil had been pulled over by another shorter man who was standing to the left, providing a lady with a colorful scarf, talking with a very fake Esperanto accent. The mall they were visiting was having some sort of celebrating next week and they wanted to take a few pictures, or well, that’ not what the man said. He just asked if they had a moment for one question and Phil said yes, smiling at the man before Dan had the chance to open his mouth and dismiss the man. 

“You guys, yeah you, can you stand over here, maybe holding hands? Or like, a kiss on the cheek or something? We want some love in the picture as well,” the lady said, gesturing for Dan and Phil to come forwards. They were positioned beside an old lady who smiled at Phil. Phil smiled back but suddenly stiffened beside him, straightening up. Dan raised his eyebrow, looking at Phil but the Hubot simply gave Dan a side glance before staring back forwards. 

The photo-shoot was over pretty quickly, Dan and Phil just ended up holding hands while they were given a bunch of bags from the different stores the mall consisted off, all inserted full with paper so they would look stuffed. 

“Great guys!” the lady announced, then took a quick round for their names, Phil looking at Dan as she started to collect the names from the upper row. 

“Didn’t you have something with L in your files? Like Larsson or something?” Dan whispered and Phil replied with “Lester?” and Dad smiled. 

“Go with Lester.”

They left their bags and awkwardly shuffled away from the others, Dan almost forgetting his bag from the book shop, running back to get it after just a few meters. 

“That lady…” Phil said as they were a bit away from the group. He looked quite terrified and Dan felt his face fall, staring at Phil. 

 

“What, Phil?” he said, stopping in his walking to turn to Phil. 

“She…”

“What Phil?”

“She grabbed my ass… twice,” he said, still looking scared. Dan stared at him for a moment before erupting into laughter. He slapped Phil’s back, not getting enough air into his lungs as his laugh kept going. Phil looked so horrified and Dan expected the worst, this was just funny. Even though Phil was staring at Dan as if he was mad. 

They had been out for a while, Dan figuring they could get more clothes for Phil and ended up buying him just three shirts. But that was the clothing store, then they went to the gaming store and Phil went wild. Dan was a classic, he liked to hold the physical game in his hands instead of downloading it, and they got about 15 games for his PS150, Phil beaming with excitement to play them all. 

To his surprise the girl behind the desk had smiled and asked how long they had been dating, Dan gave her a look as saying ‘what’s with the personal question, back off’ but Phil just smiled, looking at Dan, then back at her and shrugging;

“About 2 months now,” and she smiled, continuing to register the items they bought. 

“I’m married to a 200 myself, she got the 300 update but her original hard drive is still a 200, as well as most of her parts. But this intuition plug-in is so amazing,” she babbled on and Dan stared at her, staring to gaze around them to see if anyone was listening. 

“Oh,” Dan said, still a bit baffled and stepped a bit closer to Phil as a bulky man passed behind them, exiting the store. 

“You know there are loads of games you can actually sync them to, even the PS150,” she held up one of the games, waving it in the air before putting it down in the box she was packaging for them. 

Dan nodded, still cautious about someone listening. Two teens were now standing behind them in line, talking loudly about some car game. 

She held out the bag and Dan reached to take it, but looked back as she wouldn’t let go of it, looking questioningly at her. 

“Dude, calm down. You’re stressing him by stressed yourself,” she said, looking Dan more seriously in the eyes, but pleadingly at the same time. She then released the bag and Dan nodded once before grabbing Phil’s hand and leaving. 

The ride home was quiet, Dan was too lazy to take the underground and he ended up hailing a cab. He was also too tired to talk at that moment, picking with his phone in the backseat with Phil beside him, checking the weather cast for the following week, checking the Radio’s updates, sort of regular stuff. 

He paid the taxi driver, shuffling towards the apartment door. He pocketed his phone and pressed in the code, opening the door. Holding it open he waited for Phil to hold it behind him but after a while without his boyfriend doing that he turned around. 

Phil was still standing by the road, bags in hands and shoulders slumped, looking at Dan. The human gave him a question look, opening the door a bit wider, stepping aside to motion for Phil to get inside. 

Phil said something and Dan furrowed his eyebrows, leaning forwards as he didn’t hear the question, as a car just passed behind Phil. 

“Do I embarrass you?” Phil repeated and Dan’s face softened.

“What are you talking about? Come on, let’s just get inside,” he said, opening the door even wider. 

Phil didn’t say anything, just standing there for a moment before his eyes fell to the ground, stepping forwards and into the apartment, face emotionless. 

He started up the stairs and Dan waited for the door to close, biting his lip as he looked at Phil’s back. 

“Hey, Phil… Phil, wait,” he said but the Hubot continued upwards with the bags, eyes looking nowhere but forwards as he took the steps in a perfect walking rhythmic, it was almost… robotic. 

“Phil, I said wait,” Dan said, jogging after him and walking right behind when he reached him. 

“No you don’t embarrass me, I’m just… I-I’m just scared,” he said, searching for the words and stumbling with the ones that came out. But Phil still didn’t say anything and Dan sighed behind him, following him up the stairs. 

When they reached their floor Phil simply pressed his palm against the lock, unlocking it in one second and stepped inside, holding the door up for Dan, not meeting his eyes. 

“Phil?” Dan said as the door closed behind them. Phil had carefully and with stiff motions placed the bags on the floor against the wall, now removing his jacket. 

Dan didn’t move from his spot, outer clothes still on and bags in his hands, he tried to meet Phil’s eye’s but the robot ignored him, going into the kitchen after removing his shoes. 

“You don’t embarrass me, I promise,” Dan said, staring at the floor, “I’m simply worried about you. Humans are so horrible, they hurt people, they hurt other humans and things like you. I’m…” his voice dropped and he carefully put down the bags, following after Phil. 

“I’m the kind of guy that doesn’t want attention in the fight, I’d rather stay in the shadows. If I don’t agree I’d rather shut up and avoid getting into an argument, rather than… than being brave I guess,” he said, watching as Phil just stood frozen in the kitchen. 

“No, yeah, it’s fine Dan,” Phil said, finally his usual voice back, his moves less robotic again. Then his head dropped and Dan, wondering what he was doing stepped towards the other. 

“DOWNLOADING SOFTWARE 85L K632 S8,6: STARTED, COMPLETE 0%” a voice, clearly not Phil’s erupted from the man in front of him and Dan took a step back at the unusual sound that was way too loud compared to their previous conversation volume plus the robotic voice. 

He was glad he didn’t see Phil’s face as he spoke those words because that would probably freaked him out a bit. The last time another voice than Phil’s was coming out from that mouth was when they were at the supermarket for the first time, just when Phil arrived, back then Dan thought it was hilarious. Now Phil was Phil, not just a random machine. 

Dan stepped around Phil, looking at his face, noticing that Phil’s eyes were closed as his head hung low. Dan rolled his eyes. 

“Is this your way of avoiding conflict?” he groaned and walked back into the hallway to remove his shoes and jacket. 

“Very mature, Phil,” he mumbled and slumped down into the couch, staring at how his fingers which he held up in front of his face. He tapped on his clock and a smooth jazz tune started playing in the apartment. Minutes passed and Dan groaned after three songs, getting up and opening his liquor cabinet, picking out the whine he drank just the previous evening. It was alcohol free but very nice tasting, the purple liquid filing almost a full glass. 

“How much you on now, you robotic ass?” Dan yelled towards the kitchen but only silence answered him. 

“Update on the downloading in there? What’s the percentage?” he tried again and after a moment the same robot voice replied him. 

“COMEPLETE 14 %.”

“Are you fucking kidding me,” Dan mumbled into his hand, setting the bottle back and entering the kitchen, taking a sip on his glass before putting it down on the kitchen sink, looking Phil up and down. 

“What if I need the kitchen now?” he asked, a bit mockingly. Phil stood still a moment before his legs started moving backwards, he was starting to back out from the kitchen. Dan raised his eyebrow, following him, bringing his glass. The robot stopped in the living room, still standing with his head hung low, eyes closed. 

Dan placed his glass on a small table beside him after another sip, bringing a hand up to Phil’s face. He brushed his hair aside and leaned forwards to give him a soft peck on his lips. Phil was still frozen as a robot. 

“Phil stop playing,” Dan said, putting a finger under Phil’s chin, slowly lifting his face. The eyes were still remaining closed but Phil’s head was raised as Dan’s motions guided him up. He dropped his finger and with Phil standing in front of him like this Dan looked at his face, staring at his features close up, just like he did sometimes when he woke up first. 

“Okay, give me another % update, you child,” he said, voice getting a teasing tone to it, Dan lips starting to fall into a smirk. 

“COMPLETE 15%,” The voice said, Phil’s mouth opening and closing. It looked weird, like a speaker, as Phil’s mouth didn’t actually move to articulate the words, just open and close as the sentence finished. Dan stood there, staring at Phil’s face, smirking and waiting. After another moment, in which he had given Phil’s lips a second small kiss, he tried again. 

“Give me an update, big boy,” he said, sliding a hand over Phil’s shoulder seductively. 

“COMPLETE 5%.”

“You fucking asshole,” Dan laughed and pushed Phil backwards, the robot coming to life and grabbing Dan’ arm so he wouldn’t fall, laughing at him, tongue sticking out. 

“How did you figure me out?” Phil asked, still chuckling and catching Dan in his arms, placing his hands on his lower back and pulling him in close, their noses almost touching. 

“Cause of your stupid behavior,” he said and wiggled his fingers before gently grabbing Phil’s collar to pull him closer, his lips just touching Phil’s nose tip before he leaned back a bit, Phil raising his eyebrows at Dan, giving him an ironic;

“Oh really now?”

Dan laughed, leaning his head backwards. 

“Maybe,” he said, dragging out on the words, a finger sliding down Phil’s neck,” just maybe, it had to do with these not lightening up,” he said, stroking the skin above where the three lights were. 

“God damn it, I can’t control those,” Phil said, sighing but still smiling at Dan who chuckled at him. 

“Just like I can’t control this,” Dan almost whispered and gently grabbed Phil’s hand, bringing it to his chest, pressing it against his own. Phil stared at him for a while before leaning down to push his ear to Dan’s chest instead, listening to his heart. Dan placed two hands on his head, patting his hair lightly as Phil stood still, listening to Dan’s blood pumper. 

“I’m sorry Phil, I swear on my life you don’t embarrass me. I’m just a coward, scared of conflict,” he whispered slowly, pulling his fingers through Phil’s hair and releasing as Phil straightened up, leaning a bit over Dan. 

“I know, don’t worry, I just didn’t understand at first and now I feel silly for making you feel bad. I was acting like… a child,” he said, looking down. Dan brought up a finger to bring up Phil’s face again, giving him a soft smile. 

“Let’s be childish together then,” he said, leaning in for a soft kiss. Dan closed his eyes, feeling Phil’s lips reply. His eyes parted a bit and he started chuckling into Phil’s mouth as he noticed Phil was staring at him. 

“Why do you have your eyes open, you weirdo? You’re supposed to close them,” he laughed, but not ending the kiss. Phil leaned forwards a bit more, sucking on Dan’s lower lip before releasing it, grinning towards the other. 

“Sorry, you’re just so… eye-opening beautiful.”

Then there was just silence. 

 

“That was fucking horrible. Like it doesn’t even make sense. I hate you,” Dan glared at Phil, crossing his eyes. Phil continued to smile however and shrugged, grabbing Dan’s hand and sitting down on the couch, getting Dan to sit in his lap. 

“You’re such an old man sometimes,” Phil chuckled and Dan gave him an offended look, as if saying ‘You wanna fight?’. Phil continued to giggle under Dan and grabbed his face, bring his lips closer to Dan’s. 

 

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

Dan slowly slid his fingers up and down Phil’s arm, the morning sun just hitting his window and filling the room with an orange glow. Phil’s eyes were closed but Dan had heart the familiar buzzing sound when Phil started to boot up. 

He was resting on his chest, his arm under his chin as he was practically lying on Phil. Phil’s arm was resting against the bed and Dan admired the patching up work the ‘doctor’ had done on Phil. Just a day or two after the accident outside of the supermarket, Phil had been patched up by a ‘Hubot Doctor’, a profession Dan wished had a better name. He hadn’t seen what had been done to Phil, as the ‘doctor’ brought Phil back to his place for the day, but since Dan wasn’t the cause of the injury he wasn’t charged anything. He was really worried as Phil left in the car with the man, not being able to do his job very well that day. When he got home Phil was there, on the couch playing a game and Dan fell into his arms. 

“They didn’t remove any of your weird kinks, right? That’s what I love about you, you hear that HCDC!” Dan had yelled into Phil’s neck and the Hubot had laughed, assuring Dan they hadn’t done anything to his computer at all, only just a skin reparation. 

There were no scars on Phil’s arm and Dan dragged his finger back and forth, tapping them against his skin, then going back up. 

His clock on the bedside table lit up and Dan looked over his shoulder towards it. It showed a pixel figure, the one which was known as Phil, and a full battery beside it. Dan turned back and reached up Phil’s arm to his armpit to follow the cord. He grabbed it and pulled it out from the wall, letting it automatically slide back into Phil’s body. 

Phil made a loud sigh and pressed his shoulder upwards slightly, something in his body cracking and Dan smiled tiredly at his face, Phil’s eyes opening and his eyes meeting Dan’s. 

“Good morning, Daniel,” he said and Dan stared with admire at the other, placing a kiss on Phil’s chest as that was the closest part of him Dan’s mouth could reach. 

“What’s up?” Was the follow up question and Dan shrugged, leaning his face to the left, staring at the wall there, his hand continuing to trace patterns on Phil’s arm. 

“I just kinda want to stay here all day, I’m sore as hell because of you,” he said, amusement noticeable in his voice. Phil’s low chuckle under him had Dan scoffing, closing his eyes as his hands searched for the opening in Phil’s skin, finding the power cord plug and pulling it out. 

“I’m fine with that, except you’re going to receive the shoes you ordered today. So you have to get up for that. Oh, and the Tikka Masala dish thing is expiring soon, so we should make that today.”

“Well good that I’ve got you then, right? I can just stay here in bed while you fix all those things for me, such a good robot,” Dan mumbled against Phil’s chest, extending the cord further and starting to swing it like a lasso in his hands, Phil chuckling and grabbing Dan’s hands. 

“Watch it, you’re gonna hit yourself,” he said and took his power cord from him, letting it slide back under his arm. 

Dan yawned and moved his head again, looking at Phil while blinking heavily, the sleep still clouding over his head. Phil didn’t move much either, his head propped up on a pillow he just put there, smiling down at Dan, blinking much less than the other. 

“Phil.”

“Yeah?”

“Am I allowed to love you this much?” 

Phil titled his head a bit to the right. 

“Why not?”

“I feel like I’m probably breaking some human law right now. Originally we’re just supposed to procreate, I can’t do that with you,” Dan said, shaking his head slightly at his own stupid words. 

“And neither can the majority of your species because of your sexualities,” Phil stated. 

“I know, but because only 40 % are straight nowadays, there are less and less people. They’re gonna drop the one-child policy soon I’m guessing. Africa did it and I’m guessing other countries are joining in, like the West States as well- and if you say Africa isn’t a country, that’s a bad joke Phil, no one does that anymore,” he said, putting a finger on Phil’s lips as if reading his mind. 

“Hey, it used to be a continent,” Phil chuckled and Dan rolled his eyes, resting his head on his chest again; “yeah, like a decade ago.”

They lied there in the quietness for a while, Dan removing his hand so he had his ear pressing against Phil’s chest, listening to the motors and machinery work inside of him, one of his favorite things to do. 

“Dan?” Phil asked and Dan tiredly hummed a reply, waiting for Phil to continue. 

“I don’t know if I’m entitled to love,” he started, voice unsure and a bit cautious,” or if I can even comprehend what it is. I don’t just want to say it, I want to understand it as well.”

A pause. 

“…but I’m pretty sure I love you too. I’m certain I would do if I was human.”

Dan tiredly smiled against Phil’s chest, closing his eyes as he simply nodded against his chest. 

“That’s more than fine by me, Phil,” he whispered, starting to doze off again. 

After another minute of silence Dan cleared his voice, scratching his neck in the process. 

“Could you play some Mills Brothers for me? None of the recreational crap, just original things from the 1920’s, I like the quiet crackling of the mixphone, no sorry, megaphone,” he mumbled and Phil hummed a yes as a reply. The tune of “Till Then” started playing and Dan slowly rocked his head to the music, tilting it back and forth. 

 

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

“Faster,” Dan gasped out into the air, his head hanging falling back into the pillow. The bed was moving with Phil’s fast thrusts and the slamming sounds got faster as Phil’s face did. 

Dan’s nails scraped on Phil’s back as he tried to hold onto something in the ride, one falling down to grip the sheets instead. The ringing of the doorbell continued and Dan ignored it for the fifth time. 

“There’s someone at the door,” Phil breathed into Dan’s ear, his voice almost shaking. His fans were going crazy, he said at one point and Dan joked about Phil’s statement being a turn off. Phil had given Dan his ‘oh really’ look and asked who of them had asked the other if he could insert his actual power cord plug somewhere inappropriate, making Dan giggle and put his hand on Phil’s mouth. 

“Does it look like a give a fuck?” Dan said, trying push his legs even further back and Phil got the clue, pushing them back further as he plunged into Dan, in and out. 

“They’re waiting, you ordered express,” he said and Dan groaned. He made a quick decision before putting a foot on Phil’s chest, pushing at him. 

“Can you please go get it for me? You can probably clean up your looks faster than me,” he gasped, his hair sticking to his face. Phil carefully pulled out, nodded at Dan and at an inhuman speed put on a pair of pants and Dan’s shirt, which was closest. 

“Close the fly,” Dan yelled from the bedroom, not moving from his position except slowly lowering his legs carefully, his muscles already complaining. But it wasn’t the part of him that complained the most and Dan brought a hand down to grab around himself, pumping slowly. He could hear Phil talking to someone briefly before the sound of the door shutting made him moan louder, a calling for Phil to get over here already. 

“You’re really in love with shoes, aren’t you,” Phil joked as he stepped into the bedroom, his clothes already gone and hard on back on. Dan was envious of his ability to control that part so swiftly. 

“True, I would probably let anything else wait,” he laughed and Phil crawled onto the bed towards him, pushing for Dan to turn around and lie down, stomach first against the mattress. 

“I didn’t let you wait though, I was going to at first but then I thought about saving money” he continued and Phil chuckled above him as he was inserting himself back into Dan. 

He leaned over him, pushing in hard and Dan pressed his face into the pillow under him, hands clasping at it. Phil hovered over him, breathing hot air on Dan’s neck and started to immediately speed up. 

“Fuck, I love you,” Dan screamed into the pillow and Phil laughed, leaning down to put his teeth on Dan’s neck. 

“I’m gonna mark you, I’m not supposed to, but I’m going to do it,” Phil said, his hands grabbing on Dan’s hips. 

“I don’t fucking care if you say no, I want to so I’m going to,” he stated and Dan felt his cock move just from that, currently being pressed and rubbed into the mattress, enough to make him a panting mess under Phil. He felt the teeth on his neck get more brutal, the sucking hard and loud in his ears. Added with the repeated pressing against his G-Spot he was soon moaning his lounges out, white light filling his vision even though his eyes were closed. 

Phil made him into such a mess. 

Just drove him over. 

Just like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so sorry this took a bit longer than the other chapters. But to be honest, those had like what, a day in between? I was on a roll then, now it's starting to go down to normal pace of writing. 
> 
> Don't worry, I still love to write this story. 
> 
> All your comments make me so happy, so how could I give this fic up? ^ ^


	9. Blind for the truth

”Dan, you can’t avoid it. As much as I want to be quiet about this, for various reasons, you have to face it, sooner or later,” Phil said, looking defeated where he sat on Dan’s bed, legs crossed and shirt inside out, something Phil probably missed.

Dan didn’t meet Phil’s eyes but he had put down the book when Phil entered, slowly closing it and placing it on the bed. The pillows behind his back, his feet warm against the soft cover, nothing felt as comfortable anymore.

Desperately avoiding it, Dan had pushed the thoughts away all the time, as soon as they came to mind he forced himself to think of something else. It sort of became painful.

When he and Phil accidently or not just barely touched the subject Dan immediately backed down, changed the topic, he basically did anything not to talk about it.

It being the fact that Phil was a product, a trial product at that, and the 3 months were soon over. And Phil was a very, very expensive product at that.

“You could talk to the customer service, I’m sure they… could have something in mind, maybe offer something,” Phil said, almost a whisper.

Dan knew this must be hard on him, but then there were those dark thoughts that always seemed to hide in the shadow of his mind. They whispered about Phil, bad things. About how he only said those things since that was what he was programmed to say, to make Dan spend money on him, fall for him more. All that meant more money for the company.

“I’m sorry, I feel so embarrassed just talking about this, as it’s kind of my fault and I just wished you hadn’t gotten me, then maybe-“

“No, Phil, don’t,” Dan interrupted him and reached out for the other’s hand, gesturing for him to come closer. But Phil sat seated at the end of the bed, he didn’t make any move to come closer and Dan groaned, but just momently, before crawling towards the other and sitting down on front of him, also cross-legged.

“Even though you came with a price, literally,” Dan said and gently chuckled before continuing, “I don’t regret it. You’ve changed my world, so much, in only three months. You know I hate this cheesy stuff, I’m really trying here,” he laughed and Phil smiled, but he still looked apologetic.

After minutes of silence, Dan holding Phil’s hands in his and brushing his fingertips against Phil’s knuckles, he looked up again.

“I’m guessing you’ve gotten many reminders that you need to return.”

Phil nodded and Dan bit his lip, looking down and nodding as well. 3 months was maximum and they were down to just 5 days left. Dan had received reminds on his email and as he guessed, Phil must have gotten countless.

While they were lying in bed yesterday, simply making out Phil had suddenly furrowed his eyebrows and grimaced, as if he was distracted by something he slowly stopped kissing Dan, the other one getting worried. Phil simply waved it of but Dan knew what it was about.

“Okay, I’m bracing myself,” Dan suddenly said, breathing out and shaking his arms, as if he was prepared to run, catch a ball or something else sport related. Phil looked at him, letting his hands fall into his lap as Dan dropped them. He still had this sort of expression like he was split in so many emotions and Dan hated this gloomy mood. Now that they were finally talking about it, he wanted to get everything out and then be done with it.

“Hit me with it,” he said, looking at Phil.

“What?”

“Hit me with your price tag, I’m sure it’s more than my insurance cost each year,” Dan said, mumbling the last part. He mentally prepared himself, keeping track of his breathing.

Phil looked down, looking more and more depressed with each second.

“Total everything is 420 000,” Phil said, voice clear and Dan nodded. He had made some calculations, some research and some guesses but it still felt like a punch in the stomach.

“Dan, you can’t afford a Hubot, I’m just a sick trick to get people attached and then spend all the money, and I’m not even allowed to say that, it’s going against all my-“

“Or maybe you’re doing reversed psychology on me and you’re saying that to make me think you’re even more human…” Dan trailed off after he had interrupted Phil, bringing up a hand to his face to cover his eyes as he could feel the wetness.

“Yeah, maybe I’m doing that,” Phil said slowly, his voice emotionless and stiff, but it was Phil’s voice alright. Even as the tears started falling, Dan smiled at Phil’s sick humor, at his sick humor and at his situation in the beginning.

“What would happen if we escaped together, didn’t turn up and I just left everything?” Dan asked, speaking carefully and with quiet words, as he feared his voice would break. He didn’t dare look up at Phil, his hand resting against his forehead, as if Phil was the sun and too strong to look at. Instead he kept his vision focused on Phil’s hands, lying unmoving in his lap.

“I wouldn’t be able to, I would stop and turn around. If you tried to kidnap me they would shut me down. It’s impossible,” Phil said. Dan knew Phil wasn’t hugging or comforting him now because, even if it was reverse psychology or Phil’s actual own actions, he didn’t want their parting to be too painful. Even though Dan was just sitting, kind of still on his own bed, opposite the man he was in love with and simply crying, he wanted to throw chairs around, smash windows and kill people.

This was frustration in its purest form.

“I don’t want to do this,” he whimpered into the silence. His chest was in such pain and Dan had to clench his fist in frustration. Breathing got a harder and harder, he gasped with each cry, falling down head first into the bed, in position like he was begging in front of Phil. His body shook as he continued his pathetic crying and he felt a hand on his back, rubbing up and down. Dan wanted nothing more than to sink through the sheets and disappear, go anywhere but here, in this situation. He hated it all. He hated everyone. He hated himself and he hated Phil.

“Dan I want to shut down, I want to shut off,” Phil started repeating over Dan and it distracted the human from his thoughts, looking up in confusion, his face wet with tears. Phil’s eyes were wide open and Dan’s eyes fell lower, staring at Phil’s left hand positioned just under his right, own arm, right by his off-button. Dan quickly reached forwards and pulled Phil’s hand off to stop him from his actions, falling into his arms, hiding his face in Phil’s neck after they fell to the bed.

“No, you’re not allowed to unless you can shut me down at the same time,” Dan cried and Phil’s arms around him tightened and Dan cried Phil’s stupid, turned inside out shirt wet.

“I-I don’t know what to do, Dan, please, Dan help,” Phil almost screamed under Dan and it made the human sit up in panic. The first thing he saw, apart from Phil’s terrified face, black, soft hair sprawled around his head, was the three red dots flashing.

“ERROR,” A voice suddenly screamed from Phil’s opened mouth and Dan started to panic, his hands flying to Phil’s face, not knowing what to do.

“ERROR, OVERLOAD, ERROR, OVERLOAD,” the voice called again.

“Phil?!” Dan yelled in the chaos, Phil looking like he was suffocating under him or something.

And then he stopped moving.

Dan felt his heart freeze in his chest, stopping in his tracks to stare at the unconscious Phil under his body. The lights weren’t flashing anymore, Phil’s eyes had fallen closed and his head rolled back into the sheets, Dan gasping in shock.

“Phil?” I whispered out, voice shaking and tears still falling from his cheeks, now onto Phil’s still body.

Suddenly jumping off him, Dan fell to the floor in his hurry to get off the bed. He stumbled into the living room and leaned against the back of the couch as he felt his legs give in under him. The room in front of his vision was spinning and his breathing was to erratic, he was going to faint, he was sure of it.

But it didn’t come as Dan focused on breathing, a hand on his chest as he counted the seconds so he wouldn’t start hyperventilating instead.

He collected himself, calming himself down. Everything just went so fast, he panicked, he needed to seriously calm down.

Phil.

Dan stumbled towards the bedroom again as he remembered Phil’s sudden collapse, maybe he just… shut down for no reason. It was a stupid reason and didn’t make sense but Dan didn’t think that much, really. He just walked in to see Phil lying with his head almost falling off the end of the bed, his arms stretched out as his sides. He looked like some sort of sacrifice at a ritual or something, just missing the blood, the goat skulls etc.

“Phil?” Dan whispered as he walked around the bed and carefully sat down on it beside Phil, one hand reaching under Phil’s arm. He felt for the button, found it, then before taking a deep breath he pressed it.

The familiar beep was heard and a small part of worry disappeared from Dan’s worry, his fingers shaking as they pushed Phil’s hair out of his face. He then sat there waiting, trying to keep his hands still in his lap, he was restless and felt so useless just waiting but it was the only thing he could do.

He excepted the worst, maybe they put some sort of lock on Phil and he would just shut off again or something, but after a slow reboot, Phil opened his eyes.

“Dan?” He asked and sat up immediately, “What happened?”

“Phil, are you okay?” Dan breathed out, he wasn’t ready to get to happy yet, only to have another panic attack as Phil fell together again.

“I’m trouble-shooting repeatedly…” Phil mumbled, looking confused, his eyes focusing at nothing as he probably read through all files and programs running, filling him with information.

“Uh, we talked about how I can’t afford you, then I kinda cried. You tried to shut yourself off but I didn’t let you... then you kind of… broke,” Dan said, feeling guilty when he told the story, maybe it was, in a way his fault.

But Phil simply stared at Dan for a while, still looking confused. Dan waited for whatever things inside him were loading, when they did, just a moment afterwards, Phil’s shoulders relaxed slightly.

There was another pling-sound then Phil’s face became emotionless, still staring into nothingness.

“Phil?” Dan asked and there was a sudden small smile on Phil’s face. Then he looked up at Dan, making the human even more clueless what was going on.

“I was overpowered and overheated, to many things were running in my system at the same time, the improvising programs practically trouble-shooting over and over again. Dan, in human language, I fainted, or had a panic attack I guess,” Phil said, almost chuckling as he looked at Dan, apology in his eyes.

Dan could finally exhale and leaned into Phil, throwing his arms carefully around him.

“Don’t ever do that again,” he said, trying not to hard to think about the ‘ever’ word as 5 days really wasn’t ‘ever’.

And he fell asleep just like that.

It wasn’t late and Dan had just been home from work a few hours, but he didn’t care, as he was trying to spend as much time with Phil as possible.

‘3 AM’

They lied, facing each other and the lights off in the room, just staring at each other, Dan fidgeting with Phil’s fingers again, something he loved to do which usually calmed him down slightly.

He clearly couldn’t afford Phil, 420 000 was extremely expensive; Dan could buy a house with that, several cars and many, many cheaper robots. But then again Phil’s robot part wasn’t what Dan had fallen for, it was his own personality and… memories, he guessed.

Borrowing money wasn’t allowed and Dan didn’t want to do anything seriously illegal to save Phil, as 95% of all crimes nowadays were found by the police, and it would just get them in deeper shit. He sighed and Phil opened his mouth to blow some air back into Dan’s face, making the human smile gently at him, too lazy to laugh at his silly behavior.

Dan had let Phil explain some more terms and such and he wasn’t allowed to part the payment in more than 10 years, which would result in 3 500 each month, which still was impossible for Dan to afford. He didn’t have a super job or anything, he already saved a very little amount each month and he wouldn’t be able to take two jobs, even if he tried, time would be impossible.

Phil wasn’t allowed to work as it said in his contract, he was already ‘working as he was’ and it was very forbidden. Of course, if Dan paid the full debt, he was free to do with Phil what he wanted. The 300 wasn’t out for rental, as most Hubots, but this one was for keeping forever. But if Phil somehow got a job, and the employer or police found out Phil was a Hubot, they would both be in deep trouble. Not with HCDC but with the capital.

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

“Dan, I’m so, so sorry, I-“

“I know PJ, it’s not your fault-“

“But it is! It was stupid of me, I know how attached to can get, with things I mean so of course you would grow best friends with the fucking thing,” the the phone was put away from PJs mouth and Dan could hear him curse.

“Apologies to Phil, I just called him a thing,” PJ then added, sounding a bit more collected.

“A _fucking_ thing, I recall,” Phil mumbled from the couch where he had Dan’s laptop in his lap, scanning it for viruses and such. Dan shook his head, Phil and his super hearing.

“PJ, calm down,” Dan said, he wanted to follow it up with something but he didn’t know what as he was still torn between what to do.

“What are you going to do?” PJ asked and Dan inwardly cursed as that was exactly what he hadn’t figured out yet himself.

“What can I do?” He replied instead and PJ didn’t reply verbally, only with a sigh.

They said their goodbyes and Dan stared at his phone in his hands, his chest still acing since 5 days back.

Dan and Phil had done a lot today, went out to get a new board game, with only one night to play. They had finished it a few times, Phil winning two times and Dan once. It was still sitting on the TV table, waiting for a fourth round.

“I’m sorry,” Phil whispered behind Dan after the human had just stood there, staring down at his phone. Dan closed his eyes at the words, getting out a “don’t,” before turning to make himself a cup of tea.

He sat down with Phil and they put on some sort of action movie, Dan sitting curled up to Phil, Phil’s arm around Dan warm and comfortable.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier if I just acted cold towards you the last few days?” Phil asked in the middle of the movie, while the main character was in a near death battle with his old best friend.

“No, I’m getting my last piece of happiness here, and that’s fine. I’ve been miserable before, I’ll be fine,” he said, tugging the blanket tighter over his legs as he somehow felt small and cold all the time lately.

Feeling a small kiss to the top of his head, another wave of pain shot through his chest. Dan knew, that if he kept feeling like this, he was going to do something bad. He was already planning on taking out his full alcohol permission for the amount of alcohol you were allowed to buy for one week the first day. Alcoholism was bad, but it wasn’t the worst.

“I want you to promise me something,” Phil suddenly said, his voice more serious. Dan tensed and avoided looking up, keeping his eyes on the bleeding characters on screen.

“Hm?”

“I want you to promise me, you won’t do anything bad when I’m gone,” he said, taking his time to pronounce each word. Dan couldn’t keep his eyes on the TV anymore and stared straight ahead at nothing, his heart speeding up.

He could easily lie to Phil, he had done so before.

“Sure,” he said and Phil moved beside him, his arm tightening.

“I can literally feel you’re lying, Dan, your pulse just went sky high. But his statement just made Dan even more irritated, as he had been on edge all week, pushing out from Phil’s embrace to glare at him.

“I promise,” he said with force, keeping his eyes on Phil’s the entire time. Phil was the first to look down and Dan turned around, bit his lip as he pretended to watch the movie again. Phil got up just a little bit after that and walked off, probably to the bedroom.

Dan was to stubborn to follow Phil, he felt so childish about being stubborn, and felt even more stupid for still not following him. He sat there, grumping like an old man but it was even painful to watch the movie as he couldn’t remember the main characters name.

He turned the TV off and walked back with his tea cup to the kitchen, before heading towards the bedroom. Phil was sitting on Dan’s bed, clothes on and hands tied in his lap. He looked up when Dan entered and the human dragged a hand over his face, sighing into the silence. Undressing in front of Phil, he then joined him on the bed, nudging for Phil to get under the covers as well.

“Get out of your clothes,” he stopped Phil in the other’s tracks. Nodding at the command, Phil removed all fabric except for his underwear. He crawled in to Dan and shuffled a bit closer, a hand traveling down to Dan’s thigh.

“No,” Dan practically groaned and Phil raised his eyebrows.

“Sorry, but I kinda don’t want to have sex right now, I… I just,” Dan said, not diverting his eyes from Phil’s throat, avoiding his eyes.

“Can we cuddle?” Phil asked and just as had happened a thousand times that day, his heart cracked to pieces in his chest.

“Sure,” he smiled, letting Phil drape an arm around his body, his leg sliding up over Dan’s. He grabbed onto Phil’s arm, stroking the skin up and down with his thumb, his eyes now meeting the Hubot’s.

There were the regular sounds of occasional car honking’s every now and then outside, people laughing and talking loudly. One police car passed and two dogs barked, Dan’s eyes roaming Phil’s face and body as it was his last time to.

Which it was.

“I still love you,” he whispered, not aware the thoughts left his lips until he heard them in his ears.

“I love you too,” Phil replied.

“It’s not fair.”

“It’s not.”

“I hate you.”

“I know,” Phil murmured as a reply, smiling. Dan bit his tongue harder in his mouth, finally tasting blood. He could feel his lips shaking and hear his breathing trembling.

“Command: Stay,” Dan said and Phil smiled miserably down at the human, one hand coming up to dry Dan’s cheeks.

“I’m here,” he whispered.

And Dan slowly and painfully fell into a restless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (As for the currency I left that blank, just imagine it's a lot. Like it says, he could afford a house, cars etc. )
> 
> Also, your comments are what keeps this story going. I know I thank you all the time for them but every small little word counts, because it's what motivates me to write, feedback.


	10. Just Sleep

Dan barely talked to Phil, every time he did it still felt like he got shot, so he avoided him as much as possible. So Phil didn’t join Dan for dinner, instead he shuffled around in the bedroom, tidying, Dan guessed. When he came home from work it was always clean, as it was obvious Phil didn’t like waiting. But then again, was he even able to ‘like’, Dan asked himself, taking another sip of his coffee.

HCDC had sent out information about returning your Hubot, they were of course going to try to persuade Dan to somehow get Phil, even though he couldn’t afford him. Dan even wondered why they had let him have Phil in the first place, shouldn’t they have tried to send the Hubots to only wealthy people? Or maybe they thought he was wealthy, when he mentioned he worked at the BBC most people, tried extra hard to impress him.

There was one option to have someone come get the Hubot, in his box which Dan had stacked away in his spare room. He made a loud sigh before getting up, putting his mug in the cleaner and then heading for the room to get the box out. He struggled with it for a while and when he turned around he saw Phil in the door.

“Do you want me to help?” He asked and Dan simply hummed a no as reply. But of course Phil didn’t listen and he grabbed the end of it, Dan holding the front. It looked like they were carrying a coffin out of the room and into the hallway. Dan had of course taken the option to drive Phil to the HCDC instead of putting him in a box and sending him like a package.

Dan went to fetch his wallet, and a pair of sunglasses since the sun was high in the sky today. The opposite to Dan’s mood.

Phil was back in the clothes he came in, he had borrowed a jacket however but it still looked a bit odd as he wasn’t wearing any shoes. Dan had gestured to some but Phil simply shook his head. This was one of Dan’s problems as well, the clothes would fit Dan as well, even though they were too colorful. But Phil had bigger shoes than Dan so he wondered if he would try to sell those or just throw them away. Phil only had one pair of runners, but Dan postponed the thought for now. He could fix that when he came home.

“Do you have your key with you?” Phil asked as they exited the apartment, Phil was holding his box with ease, turning to look at Dan. The human in question slapped his pockets for his wallet, brought it up and realized that no, he did not have his key with him.

“Shit, hang on,” he said and went back inside to fetch it. Of course he didn’t have it with him as he actually didn’t need to bring it the last three months, as Phil was a walking key.

Grabbing the card, he then exited his apartment again.

“Oh, that’s a quite large box. You aren’t moving, are you?” Mrs. Jenkins asked as they stepped into the elevator, where she was leaning against a wall, smiling.

“We’re simply getting rid of some furniture, that’s all,” Dan said, giving the old lady a fake smile as he pressed the button.

“Good, good, I’ve got the hots for this lad, one day I’m gonna steal you,” she joked, elbowing Phil and the Hubot laughed.

“No laughing at old ladies, Phil, one day you’ll see,” she said and Dan bit his lip, his fake smile feeling so strained he needed to yawn.

“Sorry, Mrs. Jenkins,” Phil giggled.

“I’ve told you, and Dan countless times, it’s Mary.”

“Yeah, yeah, Mary,” Dan said and didn’t realize how rude he sounded after the words were out. Silence hit the elevator but just then it landed on the bottom floor, their neighbor getting out. The doors closed and they continued down one floor to the garage and Dan shifted his weight to the other led, avoiding eye contact with Phil.

Opening the box on top of his car, they could get the box in. He was glad he still had the thing mounted on his car since he basically didn’t have anywhere to store it apart from his parents’ house, which was 1 hour away.

Phil got into the front seat and Dan checked the lock of the box twice before jumping in as well, taking his time to turn on his car via his watch, Phil watching him.

“Directions to HCDC building, please,” he mumbled and the GPS on his headboard quickly brought up the directions. Phil could direct him, Dan knew that, but he might as well get used to the demented life again.

They got right into the track in the road and Dan dropped his hands from the wheel, letting the car take them to their destination.

“Dan,” Phil said after a while. The car stereo was on, but with its volume on low. It automatically quieted as Phil spoke and Dan turned his head to look at the other.

“What?”

Phil stared in his lap then shrugged, looking up at Dan. Dan sighed loudly and reached over for Phil’s hand, grabbing it and turning it over and over, inspecting it like he used to do when they just lied in bed, not sleeping, not fucking, just… lying there.

“You’re cold,” Dan mumbled and Phil didn’t say anything.

“I’m actually worried what they will do when they take me apart,” he said and watched Dan for a reaction, the human didn’t give one, simply keeping with his task of gently caressing Phil’s hand and fingers.

“Not that I’m scared of… being dissembled and put down, just because I feel like, I don’t want anyone to get into my… computer. Like, it’s my memories, my files, my stuff. It’s the intuition parts setting up firewalls which I then have to dissemble as, this thinking, is ridiculous,” Phil said, looking annoyed as he stared at the road in front of them, other cars driving on the track, all with an exact distance between them.

Dan nodded at the words, bringing up the hand to place a soft peck on the inside of his palm, making Phil turn his head to Dan.

“What will you do now that I leave? I saw you took some days off work,” Phil said in a quiet voice, looking a bit ashamed.

“You saw that? I thought I did that in incognito,” Dan mumbled and carefully dropped Phil’s hand, bringing his own up to slide down his face.

“Dan, I’m a robot, I can kinda do anything technical related,” he said, smiling at the human. Dan chuckled, his eyes following a red car in front of them, two kids fighting in the backseat, the mother with her headphones in the front seat.

“I know. But to answer your question, I’m kinda just… gonna take a bit of time off, you know,” he said and Phil nodded. The silence around them was stiff and Dan hated the mood, as it rarely wasn’t awkward between him and Phil.

“Don’t do anything reckless while I’m gone,” Phil suddenly said in a stern voice, reminding Dan of the other day when he had said the same words.

“Okay, this is going to sound rude, but Phil, why do you honestly care?” Dan said, his eyebrows furrowing as he raised his shoulders, looking at Phil.

The Hubot practically glared at Dan from the other seat, the trees flashing by behind his head outside the window.

“Maybe I can’t care in the way you do, but it’s kind of become my job for these three weeks to protect you, so I guess those screws are still there,” Phil kind of yelled, then turned back forwards in his seat and crossed his arms, looking like an angry child.

Dan groaned and turned forwards as well, but just after a minute he turned back.

“No, okay, I don’t want us to fight now, not now,” he said and Phil’s eyes dropped.

“I’m not going to kill myself, I promise you,” he said, the words pure and raw, Phil flicking his eyes over Dan’s face as he said the words. Dan half expected Phil to throw his arms in the air and say something like ‘that’s not what I meant, holy shit’ but instead he just nodded and replied vocally with “Good.”

Then he surprised Dan and leaned over, pressing his lips against the human’s. Dan pulled away for a second to lick his lips and slide a hand around Phil’s neck, his finger nail catching on the edge of the cover sticker again.

Fiddling with the short hair on the end of Phil’s head and start of his neck, he continued to push his lips against Phil’s, adding a bit of tongue after a while. They were both practically out of their seats when there was a familiar Pling and Dan opened his eyes. Before the car could start vibrate and scream at him for wake up, as it would think had happened, he pressed the button and grabbed the wheel, driving them off the track.

Still a bit dumbfounded, he drove them up the driveway and onto the parking lot for ‘customers’ and turned the engine off after letting the car auto park.

“Shit,” Dan breathed, bringing up a hand to wipe the back of it against his mouth. He looked over at Phil and the mood was immediately less awkward as Dan started laughing. While pointing at Phil he held his stomach, falling back in his seat.

“What?” Phil asked, then slapping down the mirror in front of him and chuckling with Dan. Looking like he had just had sex, or a heated make out session, which he did, he tried to fix his hair.

“You’re probably so full of my DNA even the cops would take you as a human,” he snorted and unbuckled his seat belt, but staying seated.

Phil smiled, looking at Dan, but didn’t move from his seat either. And they sat there, looking at each other, eyes meeting occasionally as they took each other in, Dan breathing in the air and smell of Phil and the Hubot taking countless pictures of him, the improvising program in charge of that, making the other programs question what was going on.

“We’re late,” Phil said after a while and Dan nodded, but neither of them moved.

“You’ll get a ticket for leaving me in late,” Phil added after just another minute and Dan sighed.

“I don’t give a mother fucking fuck,” he replied, still smiling and Phil giggled. But he unbuckled his seat and Dan groaned a bit, Phil and his worrying over Dan, his heal and his economy.

“It’s my institution, stop judging,” Phil said as he threw a grin at Dan over the car after the human exited it as well. He locked the vehicle and walked around it to join Phil, walking towards the entrance.

Dan already hated the place, especially the retarded, futuristic sound it made when they entered. He was tempted to grab Phil’s hand but then thought about how weird it seemed. But after just a few seconds he almost yelled at himself for those thoughts and practically caught Phil’s hand in a death grip.

Phil smiled at him as they walked over to the desk but Dan didn’t smile back, he just walked up the front like a zombie, feeling his entire body in pain.

“Hello, welcome to HCDC, how can I help you?” A lady behind the disk asked and Dan didn’t even bother to fake smile back, he just gestured to Phil.

“He’s a trial, I can’t afford him, simple enough,” he said and Phil gave him a push beside him, Dan ignoring it.

“I’m sad to hear that, what’s your name sir?” she asked and didn’t seem sad at all, simply looking at him.

“Dan Howell,” he said, glaring at her. He felt sorry for the lady but didn’t give much of a shit at the moment. When they got into the car at his house he felt like he could do this, when they exited the car outside of the HCDC building he wasn’t so sure anymore. Now he was positively sure he could absolutely not do this.

“Ah yes, Howell. Mr. Phelps will meet you in room 12 which is just down this hallway there to the left, it’s very close, you can’t miss it,” she said and gestured over the desk to their left, his eyes following her pointing. Dan wondered how she had possibly remembered all that information as there had to be quiet many people coming in today-

Then it hit him. She was just like Phil, a Hubot. She smiled at them and Dan started walking, but felt his moves getting stopped as the hand he was holding pulled him back.

“Thank you, miss,” Phil said, turning back to give Dan a scolding look, the human rolling his eyes and pulling Phil along the hallway.

There was a wooden door, just like the others along the hallway and they stopped in front of the one where 12 read. Dan put his hand on the handle, but took a second before he opened it, dropping Phil’s hand in the motion as he used the other to push the door open.

Inside was a fairly small room, all four walls covered in screens which displayed some sort of landscape, it was pretty but Dan had never liked those fake environments.

“Ah, Dan, Phil, welcome!” A smaller man said, sitting by a table which was positioned in the middle. Dan sat down opposite of him, Phil following.

“Hi,” Dan simply said, letting his hands fall into his lap under the table and his shoulders slump.

“Rough day?” The man asked, pushing up his glasses and opening a folder in front of him, shuffling through the papers.

“You could say that,” Dan said and stared at the man’s ugly face, he was clearly a human.

“So, well, why don’t we get right into it! Phil, I want you to sync to this devise,” he said and Phil nodded, looking at the small laptop that was also place in front of the man. On the table was the necessary fruit bowl and five water bottles. Dan reached over for a bottle and opened it, taking a sip.

“Phil, you’re gonna have to drop Firewall 54, 56 and 19 for me. If you can’t I’ll go get the metrie which I forgot to bring,” Mr. Phelps said, chuckling at himself, Dan just staring at him.

Nodding again, Phil looked down at the table, as if concentrating. Dan felt a hand slide over his lap and into his palm, gripping it. He felt another violent tug on his heart but he didn’t mind, the pain was kind of… soothing now.

“Alright! I’ve got your past reports here and I’ve gone through them, don’t worry, I do my work,” he said and laughed his pig-ish laugh, Dan just glaring at him and Phil smiling out of pity for the man.

“But first I want you to describe your experience with Phil, as a Hubot, if that’s okay,” he said, placing his hands on the table, eyes at Dan, looking like a therapist or something, here to talk about Dan’s problems.

The entire interview was horrible, on everyone’s part. Phil was awkward while answering the questions pointed at him, he kept slurring out technical terms, then feeling the need to explain them to Dan who just stared at him, going ‘are you fucking kidding me’ over and over internally. Mr. Phelps was horrible at asking questions, when one of Dan’s replied didn’t suit him he just repeated the question, like a god damn robot.

But mostly, Dan was horrible. He was rude in his answers, acting like a bratty child, but Mr. Phelps didn’t seem to care, only Phil who stared at Dan, gaping, like he was trying to say ‘are you fucking kidding me’. Just like Dan.

Huh.

Funny.

“The last part was about if Dan was going to keep Phil or not, and just as he had guessed, since Mr. Phelps was such a repetitive son of a bitch he kept repeating the question after Dan said he couldn’t afford it. He asked if he could somehow borrow money from a friend, as that was still legal, but Dan declined. After finally getting it through his thick skull Mr. Phelps nodded, closing his folder and but not the laptop, balancing it on his arms and pressing some keys.

“It was nice to meet you, Mr. Howell,” he said, shaking his hand after Dan stood. He opened the door and the two followed.

“Do you want to say goodbye before you leave?” he asked, fixing his glasses again. Phil looked at Dan and waved for them to walk to the side again to give their good byes. But Dan felt his heart drop at the words which exited his mouth.

“No, it’s fine. I should go. Thanks for your help, Mr. Phelps.”

A total change in his behavior but again, Mr. Phelps didn’t seem faced.

Phil, however, oh Phil however, he looked like he was about to murder Dan.

“No, you don’t,” he said and Dan watched as Mr. Phelps did a double take, staring at Phil before he adverted his eyes to the laptop.

“Interesting,” he mumbled as he scanned the screen.

“What?” Dan asked, meeting Phil’s eyes, his body feeling so alien, it was like he sleeping, he didn’t feel anything anymore. His legs didn’t shake anymore, his muscles weren’t straining anymore and it didn’t feel like he wanted to cry anymore.

“Let’s talk,” Phil said again, gesturing stiffly with an arm to the room and Dan just followed the instructions, entering the room again.

“Give us one second,” he could hear Phil say to Mr. Phelps before entering as well and letting the door close behind him.

“If you kiss me I’ll punch you,” Dan started. Refusing to sit down on a chair, even though he just felt tired. He truly wanted to go home and just fall asleep.

“Oh you can try,” Phil said and pushed Dan backwards against the table, making the human fall backwards and sit on the surface, then his shoulders were grabbed, almost painfully tight so. And then he was attacked, Phil was on him in seconds, licking along Dan’s lower lips, forcing the human to answer.

Dan heard a whine fall out from his lips, his body was still so dazed, but he kissed Phil back. However his hands and arms weren’t moving, they were just hanging there, as if useless.

“Dan,” Phil whispered and released his shoulders, both hands crawling up to the human’s chin to cup his face gently, kissing him with less force but more urge. Dan tilted his head slightly, one hand finally moving up to weakly grasp Phil’s arm, pressing the tip of his tongue against Phil’s, slowly and shyly touching, as if they had never kissed before.

He felt a sudden wetness against his cheeks but only when he opened his eyes did he realize it was tears, he had started crying. Phil dried Dan’s eyes, over and over it felt like just seconds had passed as there was a knock on the door, Mr. Phelps asking if everything was okay in there.

“Yeah, just a moment,” Dan yelled back, the crying amazingly not evident in his voice.

“I was fine, you know, I was ready to leave, and you… just,” he said, losing his words as he gestured to Phil in front of him. The Hubot leaned forwards and kissed Dan’s cheek, one hand trailing down his face and down his chest.

“I don’t want you to leave,” he said and Dan braced himself before he stood up in front of Phil, meeting his eyes.

“Silly Phil, you can’t _want_ ,” he said, his voice breaking at the end , words silent. Phil looked like a train wreck, and Dan betted he looked worse.

They fixed each other up quickly before Dan opened the door again, not even looking at Mr. Phelps who was still standing outside. But then he stared at the laptop which the man was scrolling through and he gave Phil a ‘did he?’ look but Phil simply shook his head, still looking like he had given up.

“Okay,” Dan said, clearing his throat before looking at Phil, smiling.

“It was nice to know you,” he said and Phil nodded, smiling back.

It was all so incredibly painful.

“Thanks for having me, Daniel,” Phil said and Dan felt himself trying to savor the sound of Phil’s voice, trying desperately to remember it, forcing his brain to do so. But just like the weak human he was, he only made himself overthink it and immediately forget what Phil even said.

“Bye,” he mumbled as he turned around and walked towards the exit, his body feeling heavy, his fingers shaking in his pockets. Oh, how he just wanted to grab Phil and run.

Dan didn’t look back as he went through the doors, he felt like he should, he was positive Phil was looking at him, but it was all too much. Dan was just waiting for himself to faint.

Entering the car, his heart still hammering in his chest, he sat there for a while.

“Fucking PJ,” he just whispered and clenched his fist, waiting for himself to punch something, but nothing happened

“Pull yourself together!” He yelled at himself after another minute passing with Dan just sitting there in his misery.

“There’s nothing you can do, _nothing_. Stop being so fucking miserable!” he said, slapping his cheeks and starting his car. He drove onto the tracks and simply said “Home” to his GPS, the car picking up speed as the street was empty before him.

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

It was 3:24, at least that’s what his watch screamed at him with its bright screen. Dan was lying on his couch, an empty wine bottle on the table, a crushed glass somewhere on the floor, a trap for hangover Dan tomorrow.

He rolled over and faced the window, staring at the stars over the building tops, blinking in slow motion, headache pounding as he had cried his eyes out the previous eyes. Just half an hour ago or so had he stopped, as he couldn’t physically cry anymore.

Taking another gulp of the bottle in his hands, the burning liquid falling down his throat. With drunk motions he placed it on the table as well, succeeding in not making it fall over in the action, he then turned around to face the sofa cushions.

“You miserable fuck,” he whispered to himself again, as he had done many times that evening. He closed his eyes and black immediately covered his vision. Hands gripping for something to grab, he grabbed Phil’s jacket he had worn that day and left in the car, he hid his nose in it, feeling like a stupid teen in a romantic movie, but he didn’t care.

“You miserable fuck,” escaped his lips again as he slowly fell into a deep slumber, the room feeling cold even though he was wearing clothes, even the shoes he wore when he entered the place after returning Phil. When he entered his apartment he had immediately went for the alcohol.

Dreams were filling his vision, Phil’s smiling face, cords were slinking up Dan’s legs and trapping him like snakes from horror movies, then he was walking down a beach, Phil nowhere to be seen.

“You miserable fuck,” someone whispered behind him and Dan turned around, the sand warm against his naked feet. There was Phil again, grinning. But he put his hands on Dan’s shoulders and then pushed him backwards, Dan waited for the feeling of hitting the hard ground behind him. But it never came, instead he felt two strong hands under his arms, lifting his light body up and down. The room was light and warm, and there, in front of him, was his mother, holding him and beaming like the sun, his father standing behind, also smiling at Phil.

“My sweet, sweet son, just sleep” she whispered and placed him down on his bed. He kicked his feet and flailed his arms as that was the only thing he could do. Then his mother grabbed his baby blue sheets and held them over his head, holding strong hands against his mouth, choking him.

“Just sleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw shit, this got sadder than I intended :/ But, oh well, we'll see what happens next. It isn't over yet!
> 
> What did you think? :)


	11. Bottles and bottles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't usually put warnings as I think they're kinda silly, but this chapter is a bit depressing...
> 
> But, meh, idk, read only if you're over 18? Over 10?
> 
> Idk. Idc. 
> 
> Do whatever, really. 
> 
> Also, this is probably filled with grammar errors and such because I'm tired as fuck right now, I did not expect myself to write two chapters in one go, haha.

Life wasn’t so bad for Dan. The days seemed to pass fairly slowly, he was kind of anticipating work, but since he had at least a week left, it all felt kind of fine. He would watch TV, chuckle at the bad jokes the characters in the movies made, roll his eyes ad ridiculous ads, spend some time on his laptop, play some game. 

But then again, when he sobered up life was hell. 

Dan was constantly emptying bottle of bottle of wine, vodka, rom, whatever he had in store. He hadn’t actually left his apartment for five days, just spending the days doing nothing, feeling sorry for himself one second then ignoring all sad emotions the next. 

He was barely eating though, and had almost gotten into a fight with the pizza delivery as the guy refused to go up to Dan’s apartment. Dan got his pizza in the end, but by then it was kind of cold. 

Dan knew, deep down, what he was doing was very dangerous. But he simply couldn’t face his broken heart, so he drowned the pain with intoxication. It was pathetic, unhealthy and wrong, but it worked. 

Days and nights, it passed so quick and suddenly it was Friday, only two days left until he had to go back to work. Sleeping as much as he could, crying when he tried not to, messing up his stuff when he got sober and mad. He had smashed his bathroom mirror and the scars on his knuckles were still evident. 

It was close to evening and Dan had managed to get down a sandwich, now sitting by the kitchen table, staring. The glass was beside him but he felt kind of disgusted by it. He had mixed some strawberry soda with some passion fruit tasting beverage, it sounded like a good idea but tasted like shit. 

He heard the familiar sound of his phone ringing, something he heard the last two days at least twice each day. He groaned and got up from his seat, catching a quick view of himself in the mirror, but immediately looking away. His stubble was now very evident but the bags under his eyes more so, almost dark blue. Dan had discarded his watch the first night, forgetting his phone somewhere he didn’t remember. 

Sleeping in the couch as well, he was living the fabulous life of an in-the-making-drunk. 

Having trouble finding his phone, it took him some time. After a while he found it on the floor under a towel he used yesterday to dry up after his for shower since Phil left. 

Not recognizing the number, but figuring they would hang up any moment he answered it quickly. 

“Yes?” he said and was surprised at how rough his voice sounded, coughing once and mumbling a sorry. 

“Sorry to bother you, is this Mr. James Howell?” Dan immediately had flashbacks of saying he would go fetch his father to answer, but remembered it was his name as well. 

“Uh, yeah,” he answered, scratching his stomach. 

“Hello Mr. Howell, my name is Linnea and a contact from the Harrison Bank. We’ve got some information concerning you and would like for you to come down to the office to talk to you.”

“If this is just some sort of product you’re selling I’m not interested, sorry,” he said, rubbing his eyes with his fists as he put the phone on speaker, placing it on the kitchen table. After the sandwich he started to feel even hungrier, searching for something edible. 

“It’s not, Mr. Howell, it’s nothing I can mention over the phone but since your parents have moved to the West States, this information is only regarding you,” she said, sounding ever so cheery, making Dan want to puke. 

“Do I have to?” He whined, ignoring how childish he sounded. 

“Yes, we need to talk to you personally and a proxy or agent isn’t possible. Are you available tomorrow?” she asked and Dan banged his forehead against the table. He knew this was the annual meeting you needed to have with you bank each one, two or three years, to check your economy. They were probably worried he wouldn’t be able to pay his rent or something. 

“Yeah, sure, which time?” He groaned against the wood. 

“Would 12 a clock be fine?”

“That would be perfect,” he said, the irony strong and the woman simply laughed. He felt sorry for her, she was just doing her job and he was over here being an asshole. 

“I’ll book your meeting then, sending it to your home system. You’ll be meeting with Mr. Williams, just say your name at the front desk and you’ll be taken to him,” she said, voice still polite. Dan thanked her, feeling a bit shitty then hung up. 

In one way he didn’t want to leave the house, in another he wanted to sort himself out at least a little, since he couldn’t exactly just start going to work without fixing himself up. 

The next day Dan was late to the meeting, he figured he could go fetch some food before dragging his ass home again. He had stepped out his apartment before remembering he needed to bring his key, but the door slammed shut in his face before he had time to catch it, slamming a fist at it. He staggered over to Mrs. Jenkins door, knocking and hoping she was home. She was and immediately went to get his extra key, happy to see him after such a long time. 

As she wasn’t a stupid lady, she didn’t mention Phil, but she gave Dan an empathizing look before closing her door after herself, extra key in hand. 

He jumped into the car, not wanting to cramp with stranger in a bus at the moment, scratching his new shaved chin and moving uncomfortably in his clothes, he had dressed up alright, as you should when going to the bank. 

But after going around in only your underwear and a long sleeved shirt for the last week, real clothes were annoying. 

After locking the car he almost tripped over a rock on his way towards the entrance. Dan refused to run and simply speed-walked inside, almost knocking a lady over, quickly apologizing. His clock read 12:06 and Dan silently cursed, walking over to the desk. 

“Hello, how can I help you?” A red-headed woman asked, barely looking up from her computer. 

“My name is Dan Howell, I’m here to meet Mr. Williams? I think?” He said, a bit out of breath. For just speed-walking, for shit’s sake. 

“Oh, Mr. Howell, yes, Mr. Williams is waiting for you, I’ll take you to him. You’re a bit late,” she said, giving him a look over her glasses and Dan took too long to think of an excuse he simply shut up. He had to swipe his ID in a thing on the desk first to prove that it was him, something you had to do each time you had a meeting here. 

Then they took the stairs up one floor, passing clean dressed people here and there before he was standing outside a door which said Uriel Williams. 

She gave the door two knocks before opening, placing the other hand behind her back. 

“Mr. Williams, Mr. Howell is here to see you now,” she said and Dan stepped inside a very fancy looking office.

“Thanks,” Dan said and the woman nodded, going back down the stairs. He cleared his throat as quietly as possible as this place was very quiet, only sounds of tapping of screens, keys and papers shuffling. The door closed behind him and Dan stepped onto the white carpet, worrying if his shoes would stain it. 

There was an old, bearded man sitting on a desk, he stood up and held out his hand for Dan to shake, behind him was a big book shelf across the entire wall, one window in it where a smaller fish tank was placed, sea horses jumping around inside. They were bright yellow and had red patterns on them, probably modified. 

“Mr. Howell, nice to meet you,” he said and Dan nodded. Each three years he usually met up with his usual contact, he couldn’t remember her name but this was clearly not her. Unless she aged 30 years and grew a beard. 

Dan nodded as he shook the man’s hand, his grip firm and hands big, much bigger than Dan’s. 

“Please, Dan, sit down,” he gestured and Dan carefully sat down in the chair in front of Mr. William’s desk. 

“Now, you’re probably wondering what this is, since we had to call you in her personally and it’s not an annual meeting with your contact Mrs. Baker,” oh, yeah, that was her name, “no this is much more important.”

“Uh, okay?” 

“This was first assigned to your parents, Mr. and Mrs. Howell but since they moved to another country, another island even, this is now, as the law proclaims, your heritage.”

“My what?” Dan asked, feeling a bit dumb founded. 

“Your grandfather, also named James Howell like you and your father, had funds, shares, stocks and all that. I’m sure you remember that,” he said and Dan nodded. 

“Yeah, my parents got it when I was only young,” he said, still wondering where this was going. 

“We’ll, we’re terribly sorry this has taken so much time, but after we did a big cleanup of or oldest archive we found out he was moderating some shares in your grandmother’s name as well. Well, we just presume it’s him because the records, selling’s and moves are very identical to the one your parents decided to sell and earn,” Dan felt something like hope grown in his stomach, but he couldn’t let himself get to happy now, maybe it was something bad, if it was something good there had to be a catch somewhere. 

“These shares have been here for a long time, Mr. Howell and let me tell you, they are not liabilities.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you buy and sell shares in your free time, Mr. Howell? It’s a very old activity and most people do stocks today, some funds, but rarely shares.”

“No, not really. I know my Dad tried it out and tried to teach me as well, but I don’t remember much,” he said, scratching the back of his head. 

“If I tell you those shares, that’s under your grandmother’s name, are golden shares, would that tell you something?” he said, a coy smile on his lips. Dan could feel his heart speeding up in his chest, his fingers tingling slightly. 

What the hell was this?

“No, not really.”

“Well son, it means you’re now the owner of shares worth just above 680 000 on today’s market. Something I would advise you to sell as shares still is a very fragile thing. Of course if you’re interested in picking up-“ but the words were blurred out as Dan was staring at the man in front of him, gaping. 

But soon he realized the man was laughing and he was brought back to reality. 

“Mr. Howell, are you okay?” The man asked and Dan felt himself close his mouth, but then opening it again afterwards. 

“Is this for real? Not a joke or something?” he asked and the man laughed again, sounding like frickin Santa Claus. He even had the beard and all. 

“Of course not, they’re all yours. Would you like to sell them, Mr. Howell? Because we can arrange that right now,” he said, smiling. Dan started nodding, slowly at first but the like a maniac. 

He clicked a few things on the computer and then a few papers printed from the screen, Santa Claus, Dan couldn’t even remember his name, grabbing them and handing them to Dan. 

“I need you to sign here and here, on this one as well, I’ll need fingerprints on all three as well. This is for ensuring that you’ve received the heritage that’s yours to take. The other two are for selling the shares. The shares are listed here and here,” he said, pointing at places across the papers. 

Dan stared at his kind of shaky signature but didn’t give a crap, he pressed his finger eagerly onto the ink before pressing it against the three papers. 

Ten minutes later Dan was trying hard not to run towards the exit. The money wouldn’t be on his bank account immediately, it would take a few hours. They had decided to put almost all of it on his savings account but Dan knew for sure he would transact if from there soon enough. 

Driving towards the building he just an hour ago hated the most in the world, he picked up his phone and called their service line. When he was met with “You’re number 53 in line,” he simply groaned and threw the device in the seat, putting on speaker. He drove of the tracks and onto the road beside, speeding a bit faster towards the building. 

He got there in just a few minutes, the wheels screeching under his cars as he turned the car around on the parking lot. 

“You’re number 50 in line,” the phone said and he simply hung up, jogging in through the doors. 

“Hello, how can I help you,” the boy behind the counter said, he had evident freckles and didn’t look that old. There was a laptop in front of him, so human, Dan figured. 

“I can pay for him, I can pay for my Hubot! Phil Lester!” He practically yelled in his face and the boy looked so startled. 

“Uh, hang on, wait a second. So you have the serial number?” He asked, taping away on the laptop and Dan gripped the desk in front of him hard, the adrenaline making him want to run a few laps around the building. 

“Uh, shit, no I don’t remember. I was here just a week ago, Phil Lester, he was a trial model of the 300. You should have a record of me coming in here to return him,” Dan said, not looking at the boy but instead scanning his eyes along the people who sometimes walked past, hoping one would have black hair and blue eyes and recognize him. 

“Yeah, I found him, PHI001LES001… uh, ep29,” he said, his voice a bit unsure.”

“That’s him. I would like to get him back now. It was simply a misunderstanding back then,” Dan chuckled and scratched his neck. 

“There was some problems with economy and stuff, you know, but now it’s all sorted out and-“

“Oh, his status is demolished. They’ve taken him apart it says here,” the guy said in front of Dan and he stopped in his tracks, his smile frozen on his face. 

“Wait what?” He got out, still not understanding what the boy meant. 

“I’m sorry sir, the Hubot you’re talking about has been taken apart in the lab. However, if you want a new one or a replica that’s now problem,” he said, smiling at Dan but then he was taken aback by Dan’s face. 

“Sir?”

“Uh, oh. Oh, okay,” Dan said, feeling his arms drop from the desk, his stomach dropping as well. 

“I’m sorry sir, but it’s very possible to get a replica.”

“Are you absolutely sure he’s… he’s taken apart?”

“Yeah, that’s what the status is. Sorry man, I mean sir!” The guy stumbled and Dan took a deep breath, barely registering what was happening. 

It couldn’t be true. 

It couldn’t be fucking true. 

He stood over by his car but had to walk around it to throw up in the bushed behind it, feeling his breakfast exit him, the sour taste hitting him afterwards. Keeping on dry heaving afterwards, Dan felt himself loose consciousness. 

He had to calm down. 

‘Deep breaths now, Dan’ he told himself and did as said, slowly calming down. After a minute he straightened up, disgusted by the puddle in the grass in front of him. He looked around before drying his mouth with his sleeve and stumbling back to his car, feeling like shit. 

Dan was cold, he was feeling empty and hungry, even though he just threw up. His legs were shaking as well as the rest of his body. He turned on the heater in the car and crawled into himself. 

The rest of the way was just a blur, he somehow managed to get onto the tracks on the road and towards his house. However he knocked over a trash can on his way into the garage. He thanked the world for tracks and auto parking however and crawled out from his car when it was turned off. Slipping on his own feet however, Dan fell to the ground, gravel digging into his palm as he went to catch himself. 

The tears wouldn’t even come as he entered his apartment. It looked just as miserable as it had the last week. It smelt bad as well and Dan coughed twice at the alcoholic smell that hit him when he entered the bathroom. 

There, on the floor was a broken bottle with red stands around it. He hadn’t even noticed that this morning, too used to the alcohol smell after living in it. 

Carefully stepping around the glass, Dan jumped into the bathtub, clothes on and all. He did however remember to remove his watch and his phone and wallet from his pockets before putting on the tap. 

Warm water hit him immediately and Dan whimpered as it filled the tub, his clothes getting wet in the action, but he didn’t even care, he was freezing so damn much. 

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

He didn’t fall asleep in the bath, which he kind of expected, instead he just lied there, resting his head on the edge and staring into the hallway. Forgetting to close the door earlier, Dan was now staring down the dark hallway, imaging Phil just step inside, smile, and go over to join him. Or maybe cook something nice. 

Two hours later and Dan was looking like a boiled raising, he stumbled out of it, the clothes weighing him down. He was smart enough to remove them before stepping out from the tub, and not staining down his entire bathroom. 

Not bothering with the broken bottle he stepped around it, walking with silent steps into his living room, grabbing his strongest bottle and chugging it down, even crying out at the strong burn. He also turned on some jazz music, smiling and moving his head slowly side to side to the piano. 

Walking around naked made him freeze again however and he stumbled into the room he had avoided for so long. The smell of home, of Phil and of familiarity hit him immediately, but Dan was too out of it to even cry. The torture was numbing, just like the alcohol in his hands. 

He picked up a hoodie that was hanging on a chair, one Dan remembered Phil wore it on one of the last days. It still smelled of him and Dan slowly put it up, zipping it up, the blue fabric comfortable and soft against his skin, the zipper cold and hard against his chest. He also found some sort of black underwear, putting that on. 

Bringing up the bottle for another swig Dan realized the bottle was empty. Out of either anger or annoyance he threw it against the wall, the glass breaking into a million pieces. 

After some deep breaths, inner struggle and clenching of his fists, he slammed his wardrobe open and searched for what he was looking for. 

His apartment was dark and Dan barely saw anything, he stared at the roof, inspecting the lamp hanging there before huffing, leaving the room with a belt. 

Entering his living room he groaned again and stumbling into the kitchen instead. There he grabbed a chair, scooting it over to the middle of the room; hearing the happy music run along the walls and fill the kitchen as well. 

He heard his phone ring for a moment and Dan stopped in his tracks, glaring at the floor before the ringing stopped, the music loud again. He carefully got up on the chair, almost falling off once. 

Grabbing the lamp hanging there and ripping it out of its plug, throwing it down onto the floor. Dan had to hold one hand against the ceiling to keep his balance, the alcohol was still slow to hit him but now he started to feel it, he chest clearly getting red and quite ticklish. 

He grabbed the hook there in the ceiling, pulling on it a few times, when he was satisfied he took the belt from his teeth, tying a noose and trying it several times before hanging it up on the hook. 

Then there was ringing again the music was lowered. 

“Fucking damn it,” Dan mumbled and stopped in his tracks, the tears finally filling his eyes. It was fucking close to 22:00, who would be calling him now?

He stood there, hands holding the belt and head lowered, waiting for the ringing to stop. 

When it didn’t Dan cursed and jumped down from the chair, stomping down the hallway towards the bathroom to grab his phone. In the darkness he felt his foot hit something sharp and he cursed, jumping to the side. 

Finding his phone he picked it up, staring at the screen. 

It simply read PJ. 

“Just ignore it, Dan,” he said as he stared on the phone, now sitting on the closed toilet seat, holding his foot with one hand and the other staring at the screen. 

But the ringing didn’t stop, it just kept going and after millions of rings, Dan cursed and pressed the green answer button. 

“Yes?!” He all but said nicely into the phone and he could hear PJ scoff on the other side as well. 

“Nice to hear from you Dan, I’ve been calling you all day. Where have you been?” PJ asked. 

“Out, doing things,” he said which wasn’t a lie. 

Da knew he couldn’t continue doing what he was previously doing now, as it would be horrible to PJ when they found him afterwards. He silently cursed and pressed the glass shard in his foot against his skin, gasping but pressing his teeth together not to do it too vocally. 

“We’ll guess who’s been calling me all day?”

“I don’t know,” Dan groaned, removing the shard and throwing it on the floor, turning on the light on the wall instead, blinking at the sudden light. 

“This Mrs. Newman, this lady from the HCDD, not getting in touch with you,” he said and Dan furrowed his eyebrows, not ready for another shocking event that would turn his world around. He had been thrown around several places on an emotional rollercoaster, and he was tired on it. 

“What does that have to do with me,” 

“Dan I didn’t know you had already left in Phil, I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about the entire thing-“

“Yeah, no, PJ its fine, you’ve apologized before,” Dan groaned, roughly rubbing his forehead. 

“But honestly, Dan. I’m so, so fucking sorry about the entire thing.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s okay.”

“We’ll they’re saying Phil won’t shut up to the other 300s about you and stuff, this lady said Phil was incredibly interesting and all,” PJ said, humor in his voice and Dan glared at his wall. 

“What.”

“Yeah, she was talking about all sort of things for a long time, it was enduring, I tell you. But she was mainly apologizing about a misunderstanding. She said you had been in today, to the HCDD?”

“HCDC, yes, I was, uhm, in today,” Dan said, coughing awkwardly. 

“Yeah, HCDC, sorry, I keep forgetting. Either way she kept telling me to tell you to contact them, Phil was apparently not taken apart? Or something like that? Can you believe that, Dan. Than they even intend to kill some of them, heartless bastards…”

“Wait, what are you saying PJ?” Dan said, his hands staring to shake.

“Phil’s fine, if that’s what you went in to ask about today? She said something about a newbie making mistakes at the front desk and they were terribly sorry and all…”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Dan yelled into the phone, which clearly startled PJ. 

“Dude, what the hell?” he yelled back and Dan stood up, stumbling out of the room, turning off the music and struggling to find a pair of pants. 

“When does the HCDC close? Phil, look it up, quick!” he yelled, slipping into a pair of pants, blood now on the floor from where he was walking all around with his bleeding foot. He figured that if all this was a lie or something he could just jump off a bridge on his way home. 

“You’re gonna go there now? It’s closed for sure, Dan-“

“Just fucking look it up, PJ,” Dan yelled, going back into the bathroom to fetch his watch and wallet. 

“Jesus, calm down Daniella. Uhh, says here they close at 18:00, open at 08:00, so you’re a bit too late, dude,” PJ said and Dan stopped in his tracks, groaning. 

He spent the next hour taking to PJ about everything and anything, keeping up a bit in his friend’s life. He had missed PJ, while being so full of Phil in his life he had forgotten his friend, and it was his turn to ignore PJ’s calls when he found a boyfriend, just like Dan had been ignored when PJ found Marie. 

Of course he didn’t tell PJ what had happened, he kept adverting the questions and after some time PJ seemed to get that Dan had had an eventful week and didn’t want to talk about it. It was clear Dan was drunk, and PJ knew as well, but he simply ignored that as well. 

Falling asleep on the sofa, his phone in his hand and small smile on his lips, Dan entered dream world. He just wished that the following day wouldn’t be as horrible as his last 10 or so days. 

Who knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a poster/gif/trailer thingy to this fic: http://oppa86oppa.tumblr.com/post/109429373423/title-pacman-300-length-33-000-rating
> 
> It's taken from the ad for "Real Humans", the TV show I talked about in the beginning of this story. This story however, isn't much like that show however, I realize now, haha. 
> 
> After a horrible chapter like this, what did you think? :3


	12. Take a bow

A familiar alarm woke him up and Dan groaned, pressing the snooze button. Then something felt a bit… off. And just like that he realized what had happened yesterday.

His phone has gone off because of his alarms, telling him to go to work. When Phil left he had probably put those back into use since he had been Dan’s persona alarm clock for the three months period.

Stumbling up to his feet, pulling a hand through his bed-head-hair or technically sofa-hair. Dan realized he had one hour left before the HCDC was opening and turned around, staring around himself with sleepy eyes, inspecting the mess that was his apartment.

Putting the phone on speaker he didn’t hesitate to call in sick. The woman was clearly annoyed because Dan wouldn’t send in digital diagnosis done by his watch that, for example, he had a heave fever or migraine. He simply kept blaming it on his watch not working properly. After a minute or so she sighed and put him in as sick and Dan sighed out as well, but in relief.

After cleaning up most of the mess, the broken bottles, stains of blood, he took a look around.

“I’m such a fucking mess,” he groaned as he put back the bottles which still contained liquid in them in his cupboard. It took Dan just a few minutes to get ready, he kept the pants on since he was freezing and put on a thicker sweater, it was warm outside but Dan guessed he had actually gotten sick, maybe he could have sent the woman a real diagnosis either way.

He didn’t eat anything but when he looked at the watch he realized it was just minutes until they opened. Dan had checked his bank balance before leaving, his heart making an extra beat as the many 0’s stared at him.

Still worrying something could happen to Phil, he grabbed his key and wallet and closed the door.

The drive to the building felt longer than even and Dan kept looking at himself in the mirror. He looked like shit, he knew that. He still had the dark circles under his eyes and his hair looked like a mess, he probably needed a proper cut soon, it was getting too long.

He could see his cheekbones more clearly and he wondered if he had lost some weight perhaps, letting the thought slide as his car rolled of the tracks, waiting for Dan to grab the wheel and drive him up towards the entrance.

His heart was beating madly in his chest, he was so nervous. The last time he had come here it had been hell and if Dan got the same answer again he would surely not live through it this time.

The sun was up in the sky, the birds chattering like loud, old ladies and Dan glared at one particular crow which flew over him and pooped just to his left.

The parking lot was a lot emptier than the other times he had been here, it was still relatively early. One family was just entering the building, two mothers and one son and daughter who both had to be at least under 10.

When he jogged inside he had to wait behind them in line. They were talking to the Hubot lady Dan had met the first time, she looked just like then, even the same clothes. The pair wanted a nanny- and gardener-bot, it seemed like. Dan raised his eyebrows, some people were just too rich it was sick.

Another a-little-to-perfect person went inside behind the desk and gestured Dan over to the next one.

“Hello, how can I help you?” he asked, his eyes a familiar blue but his blonde, curly hair making Dan a bit confused. He did kind of look like Phil, his nose and eye shape was the same, but the lips were a lot more plump on this blonde. Dan shrugged, he did appreciate that the 300s were individual robots but if someone had similar features that would only make sense. Plus this guy was a lot shorter than both Dan and Phil.

“Uh, I’m here to purchase a Hubot I had for the 3 months trial, he’s a 300,” Dan said, a nervous hand rising to scratch his neck, looking at the other.

“Do you remember his serial number, or did he have a name?” The robot asked, smiling at Dan, probably doing his searching on his inner computer.

“Phil Lester,” he said and stopped in his tracks as the Hubot in front of him started laughing.

“Oh, so you’re the famous Dan! Phil doesn’t shut up about you,” he said, beaming and Dan stood there awkwardly, not know what to do with his hands.

“He what?”

“Yeah, Phil talks about you all the time. The doctors have looked at him many, many times as he is one of the 300s which improvising software has acted the most individual, it’s really interesting,” he said, smiling.

“Oh,” was all Dan could get out, looking down as the daughter of the other family bumped into him, then stared at him as if he was a monster, grabbing her mother’s skirt and hiding behind it.

“Hang on a second,” the Hubot said and held a hand against his ear, as if talking on a earphone, looking away from Dan, “Mr. Johnson, Dan Howell is here at the front desk,” he said and Dan watched him, trying to make out what the other person was answering.

“Yeah, of course. Thanks mam,” he said and looked back at Dan, standing up behind the desk.

“Phil’s just upstairs, you could meet him first and make all the arrangements later, Mr. Johnson would like to meet you as well,” he informed the human, his cheery and kind of posh voice making Dan slowly nod.

“Follow me, Mr. Howell,” he said, walking around the desk and gesturing for Dan to follow him up the stairs. Well up there was a very wide hallway which several doors, many opened, some not, two coffee machines and a few benches. There were two people in white robes leaning against a door frame speaking to each other, both holding cups of what Dan assumed was coffee, tea or something similar.

Following the Hubot around corners and through door they finally reached a smaller sort of hallway where the Hubot stopped behind a door, knocking on it.

“Greg present: Dan Howell is here,” he said and Dan figured the bot’s name was Greg, looking at his USB port which wasn’t covered.

The door almost slammed open on Greg who, with the speed of a super hero, caught it with his hands. He grinned as another woman in lab clothes looked through the door, apologizing.

“I’m so sorry Greg, I somehow keep doing that,” she said, pretending to hit her head with her first as if saying ‘I’m so silly’. Greg gave her a look and she started giggling.

“Yeah, right, you’re totally not just testing me like the crazy scientist you are,” he said, chuckling as she did, then he walked off after bidding goodbye to Phil.

“Hi, my name is Jenny Johnsson, just call me Jenny dear. You must be Dan! Can I call you Dan?” She ranted and Dan was a bit taken aback, just automatically smiling back at her.

“Uh, yeah sure,” he said, shaking her hand. She had to be just over 40, her brown hair put back in a messy ponytail, she had an orange-y lipstick on and a little bit too much mascara for Dan’s taste, but she looked nice.

“I’m terribly, _terribly_ sorry about yesterday, Dan. We had an intern at the desk, unattended for just half an hour or so, and you happened to walk in just then. I mean, personally, I keep telling them humans aint gonna do the job but they’re not listening,” she added, speaking a little to herself, eyes going wild.

“But I’m truly sorry, Dan. Of course we don’t dissemble our hubs just like that, especially none of the 300s, they’re so special and interesting, don’t you think,” she said, elbowing him and giving him another crazy smile. All Dan could do was nod and smile back, while looking mildly terrified.

“Ah, no it’s fine,” he said, looking at her hand which grabbed his wrist, her other opening the door behind her again.

“I’m not really supposed to have visitors but Greg lets me bring some people sometimes, come in! I’m sure there’s someone you would love to meet as well,” she said and Dan didn’t care about her crazy smile anymore. He was brought inside a large, white room. One wall was mainly windows and the other filled with cupboards. It was a lab, alright.

Inside was a big table where a Hubot was sitting, black skinned and light hair, head down. Dan was a bit shocked as he realized the skin was removed on the entire right side, wires and steel only visible. There were many tools on the table, some papers, one laptop and a few instruments hanging above the table, looking like the one’s a dentist had.

There were two other people in the room, both wearing white shirts and white sweat pants, everything was so white in here, one girl with wavy red hair looked up when Dan entered, waving at him. She was standing bent over another laptop and had a cable coming from her wrist plugged into the laptop. The other person, presumably a Hubot as well, stood with his back to Dan and Jenny, headphones in and pressing away on a some sort of sound device, and Dan immediately recognized him, even from behind.

 

“Philip, look who I brought,” she said and the Hubot turned around, looking like his Phil indeed. He stared at Dan, slowly removed his ear buds but standing still in his spot.

“Phil,” Dan heard himself whisper, taking a step forwards. As he had put his foot down against the faded blue floor, Phil was on his feet, walking towards Dan.

And with his strength he almost knocked Dan over as he was in his arms immediately, gripping the human a bit too hard.

Phil didn’t speak, he just held Dan close to himself, hiding his face in the human’s neck, staying absolutely still.

“Hey Phil,” Dan chuckled at Phil, at himself, at the entire situation. He was finally in his arms again. They stood like that, Dan’s eyes scanning the room, the red-haired Hubot just staring at them from her spot, after a while resuming tapping away on it.

“Yeah, yeah, love birds. Come on, you’re gonna crush him, Phil,” she said, apparently noticing how uncomfortable Dan got after a while. Phil softly let go and brought two hands up to Dan’s cheeks, Dan cupping Phil’s hands in turn, their foreheads resting together.

“Can I kiss you?” he whispered and Dan could help himself to grin, stroking Phil’s fingers with his.

“Whenever you want, Tin Man,” he murmured back and Phil gave Dan a look before leaning in, very softly meeting Dan’s lips. It didn’t feel as awkward anymore, Dan didn’t honestly give a shit about the other Hubot or Jessica, or whatever her name was. Phil was the only thing he cared about.

He felt a hand let go of his face and reappear behind his back instead, forcefully pushing him closer against Phil, making him laugh into the kiss.

“Command: Stop,” Dan heard a voice behind him say, the words not angry or loud, just like Mr. Johnson was stating the weather. However, Dan now felt Phil grip Dan’s shoulder and only press him a bit closer, breathing out through his nose at Dan, like he was in pain or something.

It made Dan pull back and stare at Phil, then the woman behind him.

“He’s so fascinating I could just stare at him all day,” she said, ogling Phil while chewing on a pencil. Dan, still confused turned back to look at Phil who was glaring at her now, making Dan worried he was going to actually hit her or something.

“Wait, I’m not catching up?” Dan said, feeling Phil release him after he pushed on Phil’s arm, turning to Jenny again.

“He ignored my command,” she said, grinning, like it was the best thing that ever happened to her.

But then Dan got it, his mouth formed an ‘O’ and he turned back, again, to look at Phil who now met his eyes, looking slightly… embarrassed.

“I’m just adverting it, Jenny, I’m moving the audio command to a different program, the improvising units making it believe it’s about, for example, something else, like breathing. In human words, I’m playing stupid,” Phil said, not having any of Dan letting him go and grabbed for his hand, Dan adverting his eyes down to their locked hands.

“See? That’s both the charm but also dangers about the improvising unit the 300s have such a high percentage of in their main computer,” she said, grinning.

Dan still wasn’t a super fan about all of this technical talk, he just kind of wanted Phil back home. But he nodded at her, giving Phil’s soft hand a squeeze.

“No, come here, Dan I want to show you something before you take Phil away from me forever,” she passed them and went forwards to the Hubot sitting on the table, it did freak Dan out slightly as he knew, deep down, that this was how Phil looked as well, but seeing it directly in front of him was, well weird.

“Here you’ve got the brain, so to speak, and I can actually point out the little Improvising unit, as that’s a separate part of the computer, see this little orange box?” She said, pointing to something which was hooked to hundreds of small cables, it seemed like.

“Remove this and your Phil here is just like your laptop.”

“Now that’s not entirely true, I would just be… less human,” Phil said, giving her yet another look. She rolled her eyes, chuckling.

“This one? Really, Phil, chill,” she continued over to the laptop, the red-haired girl immediately handing it to her.

“Plug out for me, Jessica?” She mumbled while tapping away, holding the laptop in front of her. While Jessica reached towards her wrist and took the plug out Phil dropped Dan’s hand and turned around, lowering his head slightly and meeting Dan’s eyes.

Jenny plugged in the cord into Phil and she looked up from the device to wave Dan over, the sun from the windows falling onto her face, casting weird shapes.

Dan did as told and looked at the screen, only seeing words, numbers and occasional symbols which meant nothing to him.

“This here, is how you can follow his brain activity, as we call it, there are codes appearing for everything, for example, this means he’s looking at someone he recognizes, which results in processing information about that person, which I’m guessing is you as Phil is, at the moment, deliberately thinking about very inappropriate things,” she sighed and as Dan looked up he saw Phil standing there in front of them, arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

Blushing a bit, Dan looked down at the screen again, adverting his attention.

“As you can see, he’s constantly processing different things, for example here you can see the reading of temperature in the room-“ she kept on blabbering and Dan was kind of lost in the words, but it was amazing to watch the screen, see things start typing out faster just a mili-second before Phil moved or something.

Dan got an idea and carefully picked up a screwdriver in front of him on the table, as discreet as possible and suddenly threw it at Phil. Phil, but mostly Jenny was surprised, the woman shouting “What the hell,” as Phil’s hands came up to catch it, staring at Dan as he held it in his hands.

“Brilliant, Dan! Look here, we can go back to that moment. See how fast he reacts? It’s one of the amazing things about these creatures that we don’t have. They’re so superior!”

As minutes passed, Dan actually enjoyed being in the lab, it brought things off his mind, being with Phil just made him feel relaxed and composed again, it was such a weird and calm situation, compared to the last week.

Jenny went over to a few boxes on one of the desks, looking through them while talking to Dan about numbers and statistic, or herself, he couldn’t tell.

Dan put down the laptop she had handed him and took a step forwards to Phil, mouthing;

“You okay with this?”

Phil smiled at Dan’s worry, assuring him he was okay being a lab rat.

“You have to see this, Dan!” She blabbered, walking over to him again and Dan heard himself sigh loudly, but of course Jenny ignored it.

After an hour in the lab, there was a knock on the door, a man in a lab coat opening the door and peeking his head in.

“Hey!? Jenny, we’re not supposed to bring guests into the labs!” He yelled after seeing Dan, opening the door further, hands on his hips.

“Sorry, sorry, but he’s just been here a minute, he’s gonna get Phil,” she said hurriedly, placing down her tools and walking over to the door, gesturing for Dan and Phil to follow.

“Yeah, sure, Jenny,” the man said, rolling his eyes and giving Dan a nasty look as he passed him out the door, Phil just behind.

“Have you even talked with Mr. Martin about Phil?” The guy said while walking beside Jenny, Dan and Phil following behind them, Dan giving Phil a questioning look, but the Hubot didn’t answer.

“She’ll be fine with it, we’ve got both Rose and Marianne left, and those aren’t leaving, don’t worry,” she hissed back, taking the stairs in two as she ran ahead.

“You ready for some paper work, Dan?” The blonde Hubot from earlier said, sitting behind the desk, now alone.

“Yeah, right,” he straightened his shirt and walked up to it, feeling Phil’s eyes on his back. Jenny and the other laboratory worker continued behind another corner but not before Jenny had given Dan a quick wave.

“Wait, what?” Phil asked and Dan turned around, gave him a laugh, awkwardly falling a bit against the desk.

“Uh yeah, I had some… uh heritage waiting for me, the bank was seriously apologizing.”

Phil just gave him a look as if saying; ‘Don’t fucking lie to me, Howell. If you sold your kidney or killed someone I’ll kill you right here, right now’.

Dan sighed and took a step towards the Hubot, extending a hand to grab Phil’s but he walked backwards, throwing out his arm, still glaring at Dan.

“Dan, what did you do?” he asked, his eyes hard. It made Dan splutter and kind of panic each time Phil did this. He coughed once after dropping his out stretched hand and bit his lip.

“I’m not kidding, Phil. It’s a fucking miracle. I’ve been a wreck without you and suddenly, out of nowhere they call from the bank. They did some sort of cleanup of old paperwork’s and put some puzzle pieces together. You remember I told you my grandfather had that big sum of money which my parents got? Well it turned out he had some in my grandmother’s name as well, probably without her consent. Okay? I’m not shitting you? I’m just one in a billion of lucky people,” he said, throwing out his arms.

“How much money?”

“A lot, Phil, a lot. And I can afford you, and save loads as well,” he said, shaking his head while smiling, as he still couldn’t quite get his head around it.

Phil continued to watch him for a moment before reaching forwards for Dan’s watch, pressing his hand around it.

“Do I have permission to look at your bank balance?” He asked in a lowered voice, as if her was asking he even had to ask.

“Of course, Phil,” Dan mumbled as a reply, standing still as he didn’t want to experience Phil backing away once again. Phil stared at nothing in particular for a while, then his eyes widened.

He looked back up at Dan, eyebrows furrowed.

“Do you really want to spend money on me? I’m… I’m a great product which will help you and assist you and I’m not actually that expensive, now that you think about it,” he said and Dan stared at his face, raising an eyebrow. Phil didn’t say anything more, or make an expression, he just simply closed his eyes.

It was clear to Dan they had done something to Phil, but he shrugged it off, stepping in to bump his forehead against Phil’s.

“I don’t care if you’re a product made to make me obsessed with you, now I’m here and now I am, so I better make the best out of it,” he said and Phil made a stressed, anxious face while shaking his head, his face turned downwards.

“Phil, I don’t care that you’re expensive, you what I want, okay? Better start accepting that,” he said, grabbing the Hubot’s chin, raising it. Phil didn’t open his eyes, he just stood there.

Dan sighed and went over to the desk again, Greg looking at him patiently.

“He’s so weird, that guy,” he mumbled, meaning Phil and Dan stared at the dude, tempted at saying ‘You wanna fight?’.

“Okay, so you want to make a purchase of a 300 Hubot? Your trial version PHI001LES001, ep29? No wait, 30.”

“Why 30?” Dan asked, a bit confused.

“All 300ds had an upgrade when they were turned in, nothing major, don’t worry, just technical stuff,” he waved it off and was just about to continue but Dan put down his hand.

“No, I want to know, what’s in the upgrade?” Greg gave him a mildly annoyed look before a bunch of papers started printing. As he waited Dan looked behind him to see Phil staring at him, shoulders slumped.

“I told you, just technical things. For example they put a unit in our left foot which turned out not to be such a good idea, so that was moved. That’s the main thing,” he said while Dan was handed the papers, indeed barely understanding anything. He simply groaned and put them down on the desk, looking up at the man again.

“Okay, continue.”

“Well, you have to sign here that you’re purchasing this, a finger print isn’t necessary but preferred. I’ll go through your options before though.”

Greg printed a few more papers and placed them on the desk towards Dan, standing up so he could pick up a pen and show Dan where on the papers he read things.

“Here we’ve got the basics, you want the Hubot in it’s current state or do you want it new and packaged to your house at a certain date?”

“I want him now, as he is, today,” Dan said and Greg once again chuckled, handing Dan another pen to check the box.

“Do you want to buy any extra packages? The microchips you got for him when you signed up the trial won’t follow this time,” Greg informed him but Dan simply shook his head.

“Okay, an insurance would be something I advise you to get,” he said and Dan nodded, already having checked out this form online and counting out himself what Phil would cost, way back.

“You don’t want any more customizations? Since your Hubot is a trial version we can skip these five pages as they’re about buying a new one.

“Yeah,” Dan replied, eyes scanning over the papers. There were possibilities about tattoos, scars, birth marks and just weird things resulting in Dan making faces at the options.

After going through the papers, which took longer than expected, Dan was writing down the money information into his device, Greg checking with the laptop on the desk. Then a few more papers printed and Greg shone up.

“There we go! He’s all yours now! Before you run away, Mr. Howell, I just want to say some things. Like I mentioned before, it’s not mandatory to do checkups on your Hubot, but it’s pretty stupid not to. Phil is smart, but because of the human traits he might now tell you if he’s sick or broken, because a lot of the 300ds have shown traits of wanting to… fix things for themselves,” Greg said, putting all of the thousands of papers, manuals and copies in a folder. Another white-clad Hubot appeared with a box which probably contained all of Phil’s spare parts, cords and the tablet.

It was placed on the desk and then the Hubot disappeared and came back a minute later with Phil’s coffin-looking box, standing there awkwardly holding it, ready to carry it out to Dan’s car.

“I understand, thanks for your help,” Dan said, giving him an as polite smile as possible as he just still wanted to get out of here and get alone with Phil.

“You’re welcome, I hope to see you soon, Mr. Howell, Phil!” He waved and Dan grabbed the folder and the box, making sure Phil was following him behind, having taken his big box from the other Hubot, assuring him he could carry it himself.

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

“Are you going to be mad the entire way home?” Dan asked as he gave Phil a look from the steering wheel, Phil sitting there with his arms crossed, being silent.

“I’m not mad, I’m just… I don’t know,” Phil said, looking down.

“Aren’t you happy to… come back to me?” Dan got out, suddenly feeling something painful grow as the bottom of his stomach, watching Phil.

“No, Dan. I’m happy but part of me wants to convince you to go back, return me and do something good with your life and all the money. But then another part is loving this, I’m kind of trouble-shooting again,” he said and Dan reached over, grabbing Phil’s hands.

“Please be happy for me, I can’t handle anymore. I don’t want you to fake it, Phil. But please just be happy for me, as I’m feeling like I could walk on water right now,” he said, Phil finally looking up at him and chuckling.

“Okay, Dan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter up fairly quickly! Guess who just got 4 days off work for no reason? This girl! Wohoo!
> 
> Maybe I'll upload another chapter tomorrow... maybe... *u*


	13. Earned it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter (at least for now). Have fun!

Dan felt something keep poking him in the back of his mind, something he had to remember. As they took the elevator upstairs he tried to figure it out, what it might be, but he couldn’t just come up with anything.

Phil stood beside him, holding his packaging-box and Dan carrying the smaller one, eyes on the tree logo in his hands.

It was such a crazy day, so much had happened and Dan just wanted to get inside, watch some TV, relax and just talk to a certain someone.

He got out his key and unlocked the door, not sure if Phil could actually longer do it, and opened the door for him to step inside. Dan could hear Phil setting down the box on the floor and as he stepped inside he felt the strong scent of alcohol hitting him, so it would surely be picked up by the Hubot in front of him.

Dan slowly took off his shoes, avoiding Phil’s glare he knew he had on his back. He kept his eyes on Phil’s feet after he stood up, scratching his neck again.

“I’m gonna go get a glass of water,” he said and half-jogged towards the kitchen. When he entered the room he felt his body freeze as he was met by the view.

Oh no.

He forgot.

His eyes roamed the floor, the broken lamp, the belt on the table and the half-ripped open part of his ceiling. The only thing Dan had remembered to put back was the chair, apparently.

As he heard movements behind him he turned around in the speed of light, slamming his hands against the doorframe and wall, blocking Phil’s way.

“Oh hey,” he said, not moving even as Phil tried to side step him. Dan stayed put, feeling his cheeks getting warmer.

“What are you doing?” Phil asked, looking rather unamused at Dan’s actions, but stopping, placing his hands at his sides, face tilted slightly forwards, as if judging the human.

Dan knew he was in trouble.

“Uh, I kind of made a mess in there this morning, I want to clean up before you go in there,” he mumbled, taking a step forwards to get Phil to walk backwards. But the Hubot stayed put and Dan was suddenly instead all up in Phil’s face.

“Dan, move,” he said, now looking more worried than mad.

Dan hated this entire situation, even if he got Phil to wait in the living room or something he couldn’t exactly put a broken lamp up?

“No, Phil, seriously, leave it,” Dan said, trying to sound more commanding but it only made Phil’s face even further sour-looking, the black-haired looking at him without blinking.

“What did you do, Dan? This place reeks of alcohol and the oxygen is seriously low. Tell me,” he practically demanded but Dan stood his ground, but with his insides burning up.

“Please, leave it. I… I don’t-“ he couldn’t continue and felt himself go silent instead as he didn’t quite know what to say, bringing both hands down from the walls to press them against Phil’s chest instead; “Move, Phil.”

“Dan, what are you hiding? Talk to me,” Phil pretty much growled this time, putting his own hands around Dan’s wrists, pushing him back.

“Don’t make me tell you to turn off,” Dan now begged, pressing back on Phil even though he knew he had no chance in a power struggle with this guy. It was warm in the apartment and Dan felt how cold Phil’s skin was through his shirt.

“It seems like you’re pretty bad at keeping promises,” Phil said, finally giving a final push and Dan, in the surprise stumbled backwards, hitting the wall. He grabbed for Phil but with his slow reflexes he failed, the Hubot was already inside, his head moving and eyes scanning the kitchen.

“I accidently broke the lamp, I’m so stupid,” Dan tried out but kept all eyes on Phil as he knew the person in front of him would be able to read his lies. Phil slowly turned around with a murderous look and Dan actually got scared, backing off.

Then the fear instantly turned into anger. Phil had no right to be mad at him.

“It’s my fucking choice, I was a wreck without you,” He said, throwing out his arms at Phil who stared him down, his mood swing putting Phil off slightly.

“So promises are never kept by humans or what?”

“Phil, you can’t accuse me! You don’t know how it feels, okay? It’s fucking horrible and I was just tired, so tired after everything in my life went to shit. I finally found something, someone to love and then after just 3 months, 3 fucking months, it’s taken away from me!” Dan yelled, his words getting babbled out faster and faster and his motions more frantic and frantic.

“Mother Nature hates me! What is it to you if I die? You did you job over at the lab and… you were okay, I wasn’t. No one was going to miss me either way! Can you understand why I did it? No, you can’t,” he jabbered on with his raised voice, feeling the tears start to form.

“No one would give a flying shit, so what does it matter? I’m just a fucking loser who-“

And then Dan felt everything go quiet around him as slowly a loud beeping sound filled his ears, and that the only one. His hand hurt as he felt it catch his weight as he fell backwards, pain and shock striking through his body.

‘What happened?’ Dan thought.

His right hand moved to his own cheek where he could feel his pulse beating loudly. His vision was only two pairs of legs and Dan wondered where he was, how he got here, what was going on.

After a moment he came back to his senses, the sound of traffic outside the window and people talking slowly coming back. Looking up, his mouth still hanging open with surprise, a face which displayed terror met him, hovering above him.

Phil had brought up his hands to cover his mouth and his eyes were so wide Dan was worried they were going to pop out.

Suddenly he realized the entire situation and scrambled to his feet, Phil’s eyes following every movement but as Dan made to touch him he jumped back.

“Phil, calm down, you’re gonna over-heat again, your warning lights are flashing,” he said, as gently as he could, leaning forwards and slowly reaching for Phil’s arm. This time the Hubot let him and Dan softly grabbed his hands and pulled them down from his face, then he slid his own under Phil’s arms and held him in a tight grip, resting his head on Phil’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry,” was all Dan could say, he was still in kind of shock, as Phil was, but it was going to be okay. Dan wanted to say ‘it was self-defense’ out loud but he knew it wasn’t and kept his mouth shut instead. He felt like the owner of a protecting pit-bull, except this pit-bull knew just as much as Dan that if it did something wrong, it would be put down.

Then he got an idea, stepped out of the one-sided embrace, Phil’s still panicking eyes meeting his again. Bracing himself, he breathed out before he tightened his wrist and threw a punch at Phil’s stomach. The robot didn’t move to catch it and doubled over slightly, looking with another sort of shock at Dan, one eyebrow raised higher than the other.

“Self-defense, what you did was self-defense since you knew I saw going to punch you,” Dan said, unclenching his fist but standing back, hands at his sides.

“That’s not how it works, Dan” Phil said but it was enough to make Dan grin.

“Yes it is,” he smiled and went to grab for Phil again, taking his hand and bringing him closer, embracing him once again. He did have time to take a look at Phil’s collarbone and felt himself relax as there were no flashing lights anymore.

This time Phil hugged him back.

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

“I hate you,” Phil said, pouting like a child beside Dan. He was completely naked and the white covers were only hiding his private parts, Dan’s head leaning on his own forearm which was resting on Phil’s chest, the late evening sun seeping through the window to make Phil’s features look even more attractive.

“Nah, you love me,” Dan replied, as if stating a basic fact, then smiling at Phil, closing his eyes and just enjoying the moment. Feeling two fingers gently move over his forehead and pull his hair back, one coming to grab a curl and pin it behind his ear. Dan didn’t like his curly hair, never did, but he knew Phil was a fan of it, often fiddling with it like this when Dan had previously showered.

“We need to go grocery shopping tomorrow and-“ Phil started but Dan was fast to bring a finger up and press it against Phil’s lips, chuckling at him.

“Let me have this moment, I know we need to do loads of stuff tomorrow and in the time coming. The last few days have been so weird for me, I just want to… do nothing for a while,” Dan said, dragging out on the word ‘so’.

“Isn’t that what you kind of have been doing for the last-,” Phil was interrupted yet again by the same finger.

“Shush, I’m only human, Phil,” Dan giggled, blinking at the Hubot who rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, unfortunately,” he replied and Dan snorted at him, removing his arm to rest the side of his face against only Phil’s chest. With his ear pressed against the fake skin he was now listening to the small ticking of the computers inside, noises being occasionally made when Phil moved his hands through Dan’s hair and did over movements.

“Where will we be in 80 years you think?” Dan asked after a while and it was Phil’s time to chuckle above him, keeping his fingers threading through Dan’s locks.

“Well, I’ll probably be sitting beside you, show how you should use your motorized wheelchair and you and your 103 years old ass would be whining at me that I’m doing it wrong,” Phil said and Dan couldn’t help himself but to laugh along with Phil.

“Am I really that technically-retarded to you?” He asked and Phil nodded.

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” and Dan rolled his eyes, Phil’s laughing making him shake slightly on his chest.

Oh, how Dan had fallen.

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

The familiar white light slowly faded away, Dan’s body screaming in pleasure as he fell down from his high. He was arching his back in the sweaty sheets, blinking his eyes open in the dark room, staring into the most perfect sea-blue ones above him.

Dan was out of words, he kept panting, gasping and squirming under the other, Phil slowly pulling out of him, his hands roaming all over Dan’s body, breathing in Dan’s moans. He shifted slightly before leaning down, his tongue following Dan’s neck sensually up and down to his shoulder, to his collarbone and back up, reaching his ear lobe this time, spending a minute to nibble at it.

“Mine,” Phil whispered as he leaned down further and sucked on an already abused spot on Dan’s neck, adding more blue to the bruised mark.

“Fuck, Phil, that hurts,” Dan breathed, pushing on his chest, still in his past-gasm, most senses zoned out.

“I wish I could make you orgasm, it’s one of the most particular feelings in the human life,” the human mumbled into the darkness, watching Phil’s eyes roam his neck, chest and face. He looked… hungry. Something jumped in Dan’s stomach and he took another deep breath to calm himself down.

Phil’s eyes were slightly lighter than usual and were lightening up the space between them, like soft flashlights. It was very useful as it was almost pitch black around them, but also for hypnotizing the human, the light-blue light making Phil’s arms, chest and collarbones more defined than ever.

‘Lamps for eyes, it’s not like any of my exes had that’, Dan giggled silently at himself in his head.

“Oh, watching you is interesting enough,” Phil whispered out the words, using his tongue sensually to speak as his eyes shamelessly fucked Dan once again”, you need to understand how… particular humans are to us. You’re so fucking complicated, so difficult and complex. Other animals are easier, they have patterns, their brains simpler and closer to my computer. But you’re so…fucking amazing,” Phil mused over him, Dan smiling at his words.

“No, _you’re_ fucking amazing, Phil. Humans are complicated, yes, and they carry a lot of heavy baggage. It’s basically like mother nature gave us these larger brains than the monkeys, but we still ended up being too stupid to fully use them. We end up rocking back and forth in mental institutes instead, wanting to know everything, discover it all” he chuckled and the corner of Phil’s mouth raised, the Hubot moving to lie down beside Dan instead.

The brown-haired turned to his side as well, whining as a familiar pain ran through his lower back, biting out a curse.

“Uhm, Dan? I think your mother’s calling,” Phil interrupted the silence, Dan freezing in his movements, staring at Phil.

“What?” He hissed, leaning up on his elbow, staring at Phil.

“Yeah, it says ‘mom’ over the number, do you want to answer?” Phil said, the bedside lamp slowly lightning up behind him on Phil’s invisible command.

“No! Not now,” he groaned and fell down into the pillow again.

“I’ll call her tomorrow,” he groaned and Phil nodded, collecting Dan into his arms.

Dan wondered what she wanted, but tried to shake the thought off, he hadn’t spoken to his parents in a long time. They would call each other when holidays came, like Dan’s name-day for instance, which was last month. That was the last time he had heard his mother’s stressed voice.

“Oh,” Phil said and Dan looked up at him, yawning.

“You’ve got a text. Guess from who?”

“What did she say?” Dan groaned.

“ _Sorry to bother you this late Danny, we’re going through London tomorrow since your dad got a weekend project in Brighton, thought we’d swing by your apartment! Not sure which time yet, but I’ll send you a message tomorrow. Love, mum_ ,” Phil read, all in a random woman’s voice. Dan glared at him and made Phil read it again as he wasn’t paying attention to the actual message the first time, because of Phil trying to be funny with the voice.

A silence fell over the room afterwards, Dan stared at the wall, now stuck with a situation he didn’t think he would have to plan out for a Saturday.

“Ugh,” was all Dan decided to say, rolling over on his back again, hands covering his face, dragging them downwards and pulling on the skin under his eyes downwards, groaning.

“Stop that,” Phil said, slapping away his hands.

“Dan,” Phil sighed, “if you want me to turn off and hide in a closet that’s okay by me, I understand it-“

“Are you fucking serious?” Dan snapped, “Wow, you have no faith in me. I might have been kind of douche when you got here, making sure no one realized you weren’t human and all. I’m not about that now, give me _some_ cred,” Dan said, his thumb and index finger pressing against the bridge of his nose.

“No?” Phil asked beside him, reaching down to remove his socks, something he forgot before.

“I’m thinking of _how_ to explain everything, I’ve talked to her in the past 3 months, yes, but just briefly, and I haven’t mentioned you. Also, I’m thinking about my little ‘incident’ after you left… it’s something a mother never wants to find out about her child,” he said, biting his lip.

“So we’ll get a new lamp, don’t worry,” Phil said, kissing Dan’s forehead, making the human feel a little bit better by just that small action.

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

His thoughts would wonder, his head resting against the soft pillow, clothed in a pillowcase Phil had chosen, something colorful compared to what Dan would have picked at first sight. It resembled the color of Phil’s eyes, Dan absently thought, blinking slowly. His chest rose as his lungs craved more air, breathing in the early morning, something Dan seemed to forget to do a lot when around this particular being.

“You having fun?” A voice broke the silence and Dan’s mouth cracked a grin at the first word, his eyes wrinkling together.

“How’d you know I’m awake?” Dan asked, watching as Phil opened his eyes, staring into the ceiling before rolling over to face Dan, his hair slightly messy.

“I can hear you heartbeat, silly,” Phil said, taking a deep breath, something he had explained was automatic programming.

Dan crawled closer, grabbing onto Phil’s arm and leaning over him, placing his lips on the other’s soft ones. Reaching over his slightly cold body, Dan grabbed the cord, pulling on it until it released the plug-in in the wall, letting it slide into Phil’s body, disappearing under his arm.

Pushing Phil’s legs apart, the human then settled between his legs, their lips exploring each other like they hadn’t done so in the last months.

“Even I can tell you have horrible morning breath right now,” Phil interrupted the mood, chuckling into Dan’s mouth. He received a light slap on his shoulder as a thanks.

“Fuck you, Phil Lester,” Dan mumbled, diving down for another deep kiss.

“Yeah, fuck me,” Phil absently said against Dan’s lips, his thumbs caressing the skin over his ribs as his hands had crawled up his body to settle against his sides.

After another minute of making out, Dan sat up, giving Phil a last good morning peck before jumping off the bed, walking naked over to the wardrobe. He gave the Hubot quite a show of his behind, as best as he could with an aching body, and settled for new briefs, his black jeans that had somehow ended up on top of his desk, and a space-patterned shirt.

“Look at me being all fucking colorful,” Dan said, giving the naked man on the bed a curtsy, gripping his invisible dress and leaning down, watching Phil chuckle.

Dan rummaged through his kitchen cupboard, searching for his muesli he was sure he had, tensing when a pair of arms slid around his front.

“God, Phil stop creeping up on me,” he said, breathing out when he realized who it was, feeling a chin rest against his shoulder, the black-haired man moaning something inaudible.

“What?”

“Your muesli is right in front of you, on the kitchen worktop,” he repeated and Dan looked down, groaning when he stared eye to eye with the happy boy on the package.

Two hours later and they stumbled together into the hallway, Dan closing the door behind them.

“Phil, stop groping me, I’m not in the mood,” Dan laughed as he leaned back to get eye contact with the horny Hubot that had been feeling him up the entire ride up the elevator.

They had ran down to the closest store and picked out a lamp fitting for his kitchen, they ended up getting two plants as well, Phil promising to take care of them as Dan told him it was his responsibility then.

Phil rolled his eyes as Dan pushed away his hand on the front of the human’s jeans, turning to remove his shoes and jacket instead.

“Be all sour about it then,” Dan chuckled at Phil’s disappointed face and walked past him, wanting to get the new lamp up as soon as possible so he didn’t have to think about what caused the other one to break in the first place.

Phil ended up doing all the work, standing on a chair, Dan gulping as Phil started meddling with the cords.

“Phil… please be careful,” Dan mumbled, standing on the floor, holding onto the chair with one hand, the other gripping Phil’s leg.

“Hey, rather me getting an electric shock than you, right?” He asked with a screw driver in his mouth, looking down at Dan.

“Not really, it could seriously mess you up. The electricity to run a lamp can’t kill me,” Dan mumbled but Phil ignored him, finally removing the broken cord and replacing it with a new one. When he was done he asked Dan to give him the lamp, a larger, white one. It gave the room a softer light, Dan discovered as Phil stepped down and turned the button.

Dan gave Phil a thankful smile, the Hubot replying with a knowing one and then Dan turned his head as he heard the door bell ring.

He gave Phil a questioning look, the Hubot looking clueless himself. But then his eyes opened wider, looking at Dan.

“It might be your parents,” he said and Dan froze, staring at the scene in front of him.

“Hurry, throw the lamp in the bag,” Dan hissed as he grabbed the plants and hastily put on the kitchen table, running to place the other pot in the living room in the window, running back to Phil who had put all the tools and the broken lamp in a bag and now stuffed it into his cleaning cabinet, the chair sitting by the table again.

“Okay, fuck. Let’s do this,” Dan said, straightening his shirt, hoping it wasn’t his parents. His mother had said she would text him beforehand after all.

“Do you want me to…” Phil quietly asked, looking like a lost puppy and Dan smiled, pulling him along into the hallway.

Taking another breath, Dan finally opened the door, his mother’s smiling face greeting him.

“Oh my sweet Daniel,” she said, embracing him immediately.

“Hey mom,” Dan smiled into her flowery-smelling hair. When she was done with her powerful embrace she grabbed his shoulders, holding him in place in front of him, not having noticed Phil yet.

“You’ve grown so much, and I saw you just this Christmas,” she chuckled and Dan noticed the wrinkles around her eyes, they had gotten more defined, as her grey hairs.

Dan smiled at his father as his mother released him, stepping over to hug him as well, his dad’s big hands kind of awkwardly rubbing against his back.

“Hello son, pardon us but we’re both quite exhausted from the long ride,” he said and Dan simply nodded, looking at his father’s brown eyes, alike his own. They had been the same height since around Dan’s 18th birthday, but as he had noticed this Christmas, his father had started to get a bit shorter, hunching over slightly.

“Oh, but who is this?” His mother exclaimed behind him and Dan felt a tad bit nervous as he entered his apartment after his mother.

“Hello,” Phil smiled from inside, holding out his hands to shake his mother’s. Dan closed the door behind his father and side stepped around them to stand beside Phil, hating how awkward this all was.

Phil shook Dan’s father’s hand as well, introducing himself as Phil Lester.

“Are you a friend of Dan? Have you gotten a flat-mate again?” His mother asked first Phil, then Dan.

“Uh, we’re friends, yeah,” Dan said, scratching his neck, feeling a warmth creep over his face.

“Oh, my. Have you gotten yourself a boyfriend, Danny?” His mother asked as she removed her scarf and handed it to her husband behind her who placed it on the hat-shelf.

Dan realized his father seemed to shine up as he released the situation and Dan felt himself calm down a bit as well, grabbing for Phil’s hand.

“Yeah, but it was after Christmas, don’t worry I didn’t lie last time we met and you bothered me with questions about my love life over and over-“

“I did not bother you,” Dan’s mother laughed, interrupting her son.

“You so did,” Dan walked into the hallway and into the kitchen, starting the coffee maker without having to ask if his parents wanted a cup each.

“So where did you catch this gorgeous?” She asked and Dan gave her a slight glare and she chuckled.

“Don’t worry, this guy still owns all of my heart,” she giggled, pointing at Dan’s father who looked around the kitchen.

“I met him through PJ,” Dan said, which wasn’t a lie, and sat down by the table, Phil leaning against the kitchen counter top opposite of Dan’s father, who remained standing as well.

“Do you live close to here, Phil?” She asked, placing her hands on the table, sitting opposite of Dan, smiling at Phil.

“Uh, I actually moved in with Dan just recently,” he said and Dan gave Phil a smile, appreciating Phil coming up with things himself, and not hiding behind Dan.

“Already to that step,” she asked, looking a bit surprised by that. Dan ignored it and watched Phil take out three mugs and searched for some biscuits in the cabinet, Dan’s father moving to help pour the now done liquid into the cups.

“You don’t want any, Phil?” he asked and Phil shook his head, turning down his offer politely, placing some biscuits and cookies he found on a plate. He brought it to the table and sat down beside Dan, letting a hand slide against his back at the same time, Dan noticing his mother followed it.

“Tell me something about yourself, Phil,” his mother asked and clasped her hands together, leaning on her elbows and smiled at Phil.

They ended up making up the parts where his parents demanded exact answers, otherwise they both tried to stay as true to the story as possible.

But apparently Phil had studied engineering in London, and met PJ through a part-time job. After a while his mother started telling stories of her own and Dan relaxed further into his kitchen chair as she told stories about her work, his father’s work and crazy neighbors back in the West States.

And Dan felt such pride as he watched Phil talk with his father about economics; Phil sat on the couch and his father in the arm chair, looking quite serious as they shared thoughts.

His mother had went to bed very early, both very tired, but his father seemed really interested in their conversation and kept his eyes open, nodding as Phil spoke. Dan walked over to them from his spot in the door frame, having showed his mother to the guest bedroom even though she knew where it was.

Sitting down beside Phil and grabbing his hand, smiling back at Phil as he turned to Dan to acknowledge his presence, but attention to his father’s words about the binational minister’s latest decisions.

****-***-*-*-*-***-****

Dan hadn’t mentioned anything about the money. He wondered if he ever would. It might be a sour topic to bring up along families, and avoided it as soon as possible. Just the fact that he was planning on spending most of it on his boyfriend would be a sensitive topic to discuss.

The next day, at Sunday evening Dan stood on the clean airport floor, his jacket resting in his arms. Phil stood beside him, smiling as Dan’s parents were about to walk towards their gate. Dan had had an inner war inside for the last hour and in the taxi ride, but finally he made up his hand and dropped Phil’s hand, smiling at him.

“Wait here for a moment,” he said and Phil nodded, but gave Dan a curios look, wondering what he was going to do.

Dan walked over to his parents again and hugged his mother once again, even though they had already said their goodbyes earlier, Phil then included.

“What is it dear?” She asked, pulling on the handle on her bag. Dan’s father was searching through his bag for something beside them and when Dan decided he wasn’t paying attention he took a breath before meeting his mother’s eyes.

“Phil’s a Hubot,” he simply said, only loud enough for his mother to hear. He watched her face with clenched fists, waiting for a reaction. She looked him in the eyes, then at Phil behind him, then back at Dan.

“Oh,” she simply said, looking quite baffled.

Then out of nowhere she lightly chuckled.

“So that was it! I knew there was something about that boy. Of course! He didn’t eat after all this time, blaming it on- God, it was so obvious after all,” she mumbled and Dan carefully smiled with her.

“I… I wanted to tell you. And I’m sorry we lied it was just… obviously he didn’t go to college… and I….” Dan started, looking at the floor as he tried to explain himself but a hand raised his face, his mother’s kind face meeting his.

“I understand, Dan. And I understand why you’re only telling me right now as well,” she smiled, giving a nod towards her husband who was starting to get annoyed he couldn’t find what he was looking for in his bag.

“Really?” Dan asked, feeling as if something heavy fell from his shoulders, the air suddenly seeming lighter in the room.

“Of course sweet heart,” she said giving him another hug, her soft hands brushing through his hair. After a while she leaned back, giving Phil another look.

“Wow,” she said as in awe, smiling,” he’s really something isn’t he.”

“He is,” Dan smiled as he also gave a quick look at Phil who looked really lost, waiting for Dan over by a map of the airport. A young child ran in front of him and Phil jumped out of the way, following her with his eyes.

“I have a million questions, dear. But Dan, I have to ask, aren’t those quite expensive?” She asked, looking a bit apologetic. Dan bit his lip, looking down at the floor.

So he would have to tell her about the heritage after all.

“Uh, well the bank contacted me…” he started, feeling a blush crawl up his neck.

“Your father’s grandmother’s heritage?” She smiled and Dan snapped up his head, staring at her. She simply smiled at his shocked expression.

“I got a notice about it. Or well, it was to your father but I happened to read it first,” she said, looking a bit mischievous and Dan felt himself gape at her.

“I might not understand now, I know mostly nothing about those,” she said, gesturing to Phil,” but I know some of them are more human than most humans. My friend, Cornelia, you know your old kindergarten teacher?” She asked and Dan shook his head, wondering where she was going.

“She had red, long hair, usually in a braid, with the crow tattoo.”

“Oh, yeah, I know who you mean,” Dan said, watching as his father had picked up a folder with papers, rummaging through some.

“She’s married one, his name is Martyn and _oh my_ is he the sweetest thing ever!” She said in a hushed voice, Dan chuckled at her exaggerated story telling.

“No but really! He’s from this Japanese company with a really long name, I don’t remember, but he’s so… alive! Just like your Phil. Or well, Phil wins because he’s just astonishing,” she added and Dan placed a hand on hers.

“Okay, calm down mum,” he laughed and she smiled, grabbing his hands and looking up at her son.

“I could tell your father later, if you want. Both about your boyfriend and about the money. Don’t worry, he might be a bit… baffled about Phil but he won’t mind the money-thing. You know, we know we don’t need any of the money as he’s making so much right now,” she said, absently twisting the gold watch around her wrist.

“You’re the best mum ever,” Dan said and embraced her again, having to force his tears back. He couldn’t cry now, not here, not now.

“Aww, sweet heart, I’m just doing what any mother should do, and your father would probably too, he’s just bothered by a lot of work right now. I know you understand,” she smiled and Dan nodded against her shoulder.

“Thank you,” he said, kissing her cheek.

“And you thank Phil for me, he’s brought back the happy child I had 15 years ago,” and now Dan started sobbing at her smiling, wrinkly eyes.

“What’s going on?” His father’s voice asked beside him and Dan straightened up, looking at his father.

Just as Dan was about to reply they announced something in the speakers about his parent’s flight, and Dan gave a last good bye to his parents, walking back to Phil afterwards, his blue eyes full of questions.

“You didn’t eavesdrop?” Dan asked and Phil gave him a look.

“You don’t have much faith in me, Dan. What’s between you and your family is between you and your family. I’m not gonna pry into that,” Phil said and Dan smiled, grabbing his hand.

“I’m supposed to thank you from my mother, for making me happy again,” Dan said, watching Phil’s face fall into pure awe. Then he smiled.

“I’m pretty much doing my job,” he said and Dan chuckled, bumping his hip against Phil.

“I told her,” he said afterwards as they watched his parents run along the group of people towards their gate, Dan’s father holding up a part of papers in victory, probably the one’s he had looked for, “I told her what you are.”

“How’s she react?” Phil asked, turning to Dan, squeezing his hand.

“She’s fine about it. I think she actually has a thing for you,” he added humorously and Phil chuckled while rolling his eyes, his turn to push Dan with his hips.

“Oh, I could do me some mama Howell,” Phil joked and Dan groaned loudly at the images his brain produced for him.

“Shut it, Phil.”

“Sorry, honey,” Phil smiled, pulling on the human’s hand for him to follow him towards the car.

Their car.

As Dan had decided that everything that was his was now Phil’s as well.

Apart from Dan’s heart which Phil had taken all for himself.

And Dan wasn’t one to complain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay wow this is the last. I still have ideas for this story and much more things I want to write out, but for the time being I'm quite busy. But I'm sure I will come back to this story and add chapters, maybe make a sequel, who knows. 
> 
> But if you've been with me on this trip, thanks so much!


End file.
